The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team relinquished the lead in the top of the eighth and could not recover in a narrow 7-6 loss to Laney College Feb. 8 at Cook Sypher Field.
The game started out rough for SRJC (4-2). Laney loaded the bases and pitcher Eric Parnow hit the opposing batter, walking in the first score of the day. The Eagles went on to score two more runs to make the lead 3-0 after the top of the first inning.
Parnow settled down and pitched well for the next four innings, including six strikeouts and impressive defensive play. In the fourth inning, the leadoff batter for the Eagles hit a direct line drive to Parnow, who caught it with his glove in a split-second reaction.
Center Fielder Daniel Teasley responded to Laney’s scoring in the first inning with a leadoff double in his first at bat. First Baseman Joe Canepa hit a double that allowed Teasley to score the Bear Cubs first run of the day.
Canepa tied the game 3-3 when he hit a two-run homerun over right field in the third inning. “He hung a slider and I didn’t miss it,” Canepa said.
The scoring didn’t stop there. Left fielder Ben Sanderson hit a single past first base, advancing to second after a fielding error from the right fielder. Sanderson then recorded the first stolen base of the game, sliding into third. Sanderson eventually scored off of a wild pitch, giving the Cubs its first lead of the game 4-3.
SRJC third baseman Vinny Riggio reached home plate after Laney pitcher overthrew the first baseman to pad the lead to 5-3 before the sixth inning ended.
Laney tied the game back up in the next inning. Center fielder Kevin Whitaker hit a sacrifice fly out to left field to advance the runner. A wild pitch that got past Brodnansky let the tying runner slide into home.
SRJC catcher Cole Brodnansky stood up against the pressure of a tie game and hit a leadoff home run deep over left field to break the tie in the bottom the seventh inning.
“Going into the at bat, I was just looking to do whatever I could to get on base. Getting a lead off on is always important,” Brodnansky said. “So essentially I was just looking to get a pitch and hit it hard.”
The eighth inning opened with a walk and two defensive outs from the Bear Cubs. The last out to end the inning proved to be elusive. The Eagles hit an RBI single to drive in the tying run. Laney followed this up with what would be the game winning run off a fielding error.
Laney and SRJC traded leads throughout the game and the victory could have gone either way. “Persistence was the real winner in this game,” Brodnansky said.
“We need to do a better job of finishing off games and close games out,” Brodnansky said. “Whether that be closing games out with offense, defense, pitching, or any combinations of those.”
“Everyone was obviously mad, but people really started taking accountability. We’re going to come out with a different edge and it starts with practice,” Pitcher Ryan Calderon said. “We’ve shown solid leaps in both pitching and hitting, but unless we can do it for the full 9 innings we’re not playing to our potential.”
The Bear Cubs look to bounce back on the road against Cañada College at 1 p.m. Feb. 10 at Redwood City.
