FRC Baseball Head Coach Terry Baumgartner wins his 600 game as a Head Coach

Golden Eagles get win in extras, Baumgartner notches 600th

MARYSVILLE, Calif.—It took five days and an extra inning before history was finally written for head coach Terry Baumgartner and his Feather River Golden Eagles.

Feather River and Cabrillo began a game last Monday (Feb. 9) that was postponed on account of darkness with the score tied at 10-10 in the bottom of the tenth inning. The contest was completed today (Saturday, Feb. 14) in Marysville, with the Golden Eagles pushing across a run in the bottom of the tenth on a Scotty Dwyer bases loaded single to claim the 11-10 victory.

With the win, Baumgartner earned his 600th career triumph during a contest that probably took longer to complete (in calendar days) than any other in his 19 years as a head coach. Baumgartner, in his eighth season at Feather River, is now 230-72 as the leader of the Golden Eagles. He was 370-220 in 11 years as the mentor at NCAA Division II Western Oregon, for a career mark of 600-292.

"I know that coaches like to say that if you stick around long enough, you are going to reach milestones like these," Baumgartner said. "But honestly, I have really been fortunate to be blessed with great assistant coaches to work with and players that have been willing to buy into what we are teaching. This is a reward for all of us to share."

It has been a busy week for Baumgartner's team. After Monday's darkness shortened outing, FRC topped Yuba on Thursday (10-1), West Valley on Friday (12-1), finished Monday's game with Cabrillo on Saturday (won, 11-10) before capping the week with a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Cabrillo later in the day. After the marathon of games, the Golden Eagles now sit at 6-3 on the season.

Cabrillo got its revenge in today's finale, by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the ninth—after Feather River had scored three of its own in the top half of the frame to take a 6-4 lead. With the split of games, Cabrillo of the Coast-Pacific Conference moved to 6-2 on the year.

It was much easier for the Golden Eagles on Friday during its 12-1 win over West Valley (Coast-Golden Gate Conference). FRC broke open a 3-1 contest with six runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to pull away.  Gage Matuszak had a pair of doubles and drove in four runs while Rex Campbell had three hits in three at-bats to pace the offense. The squad had 15 hits overall to support the mound work of starting pitcher Skylar Haynes, who went eight innings and gave up just five hits and a run while fanning seven and not walking a single batter. West Valley fell to 4-5 with the loss.

Baumgartner's team used the big inning a day earlier (Thursday) during its 10-1 pasting of Yuba. The Golden Eagles scored eight runs in the third inning to take away any mystery early against the Niners. Eli Putnam, Nathan Reynolds and Michael Sanderson had two hits and two runs batted in each. O'Keeffe Hall got the win on the hill, cruising through seven innings and allowing only three hits and a run while striking out nine. Yuba, of the Bay Valley Conference, fell to 5-4.

Feather River will get some much needed rest before heading back on the road next weekend to take on Ohlone on Friday (Fremont, 2 pm) and San Mateo (Saturday, 1 pm).