The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team split its two-game series with San Joaquin Delta College Feb. 28 and March 1 at Cook Sypher Field.
In the Bear Cubs first game against the Mustangs they lost 5-4 in a devastating ninth-inning defeat to Delta Thursday afternoon.
The atmosphere was lively and both dugouts were loud as the game remained competitive throughout the entire afternoon.
Delta and Santa Rosa started the game slow but got going in the fourth, where they each scored two runs.
The Mustangs took the lead after a productive three-run sixth inning.
The Bear Cubs took one run back on a passed ball that Colin Prince scored on while stealing home plate in the bottom of the sixth inning.
A potential comeback looked possible for the Bear Cubs in the ninth. Sophomore pinch hitter Hunter Estabrook started off the inning with a 13-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout.
Santa Rosa’s leadoff hitter Ethan Payne walked, which was immediately followed by Delta’s pitcher hitting Peter Torres with a pitch and then Jo Bynum earned a walk the traditional way.
With the bases loaded, the Bear Cubs’ sophomore utility player Colin Prince hit a ground ball to third base that was thrown to home plate for the second out.
Santa Rosa’s Peter Raines subsequently obtained a walk that drove a run in to shorten Delta’s lead to 5-4.
Down by one, with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, left fielder Hayden Klemenok had a chance to win the game but the Mustangs pitcher stepped up in the dramatic moment and struck out Klemenok who lost the game swinging at a pitch in the dirt.
The Bear Cubs’ head coach Ben Buechner said, “You can’t win a series with just nine hits in the first two games.”
After Thursday’s heart wrenching loss, he had some words of advice for his team.
“Wake up and be better tomorrow. Everyday they have a choice to either good or great,” Buechner said.
Santa Rosa 12, Delta 3
The Bear Cubs earned a little redemption the following day convincingly defeating Delta 12-3 at Cook Sypher Field.
Santa Rosa’s starting pitcher Noah Rennard was instrumental in the Bear Cub’s defense as he threw five strikeouts through his seven innings on the mound. Rennard relied on his curveball throughout the the game.
“I could just throw [my curveball] for a strike at anytime. And it helped all of my other pitches,” Rennard said.“We went out today and proved that we can hang with them, we can win and beat any team on any day.”
Santa Rosa’s sophomore Vinny Riggio finished off the last three innings from the pitcher’s mound with two strikeouts.
The Bear Cubs’ sophomore outfielder Taylor Cullen hit a homerun in the seventh inning to give the Bear Cubs an 11-3 lead and put the game out of reach.