Fresno City goes bust in 21, but what a workout
The Fresno Bee
It was a long weekend for the Fresno City College and Sacramento City baseball teams.
First a doubleheader delayed three hours by rain before it ended after midnight Saturday, then a scheduled 12:30 p.m. first pitch for a series finale-turned-marathon.
Six hours, 51 minutes later, NorCal No. 11 Sacramento City defeated top-ranked Fresno City 11-6 in 21 innings at Euless Park -- longest in school history both in terms of time and innings, coach Ron Scott said.
The previous longest also was against Sacramento City -- a 7-5 win in 18 innings in 1963 in Sacramento.
"It was a crazy game," he said. "I mean it was a tough loss but the kids played hard and we had our opportunities. We'll learn from it."
Ryne Dean's walk-off single in the ninth in the second game of Friday's doubleheader had given the Rams a 4-3 victory about 12 hours earlier and the momentum continued Saturday afternoon as Fresno City jumped up 3-0.
The Rams, however, had to tie it 4-4 in the sixth. On it went in extra innings, with Fresno City's best chance in the 11th when it loaded the bases with one out but could not score.
In the 18th, Sacramento took a 5-4 lead before the Rams answered on Shota Runge's RBI groundout.
Matt Casselli's two-run single highlighted Sac City's six-run 21st inning.
Second-year Panthers coach Derek Sullivan said the lengthy game was a first for him.
"That's baseball," Sullivan. "Hard to turn that one off. That was pretty special. It was crazy. Whenever we play each other it's never over and that proved itself once again today."
Connor Bogdon started for Fresno City and pitched five scoreless innings. Ace Dominic Toopozian came on in the sixth and pitched 52/3 scoreless with six strikeouts.
•David Mora (2-0) pitched around seven walks, allowing three hits and an unearned run in eight innings as Reedley beat Bakersfield 3-1. Jeremy Vollberg's sacrifice fly in the second and RBI single in the fourth made it 2-0 for the Tigers (4-3). The Renegades fell to 1-5.
•Jon Molina allowed a run in seven innings as West Hills beat Gavilan 5-1 in game 1 of a doubleheader. The Falcons (4-2) were then stymied by Matt Oxner, who pitched a four-hitter and struck out 13 in a 3-2 win for the Rams (2-4).
The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6042, agalaviz@fresnobee.com or @agalaviz_TheBee on Twitter.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/02/08/3758606/jc-baseball-fresno-city-goes-bust.html#storylink=cpy