First baseman and pitcher Connor Charpiot displayed an uncanny ability to be a key two-way player for the Bear Cubs in an 8-4 win over Marin College Feb. 18 at Sypher Field.
Charpiot led the team in RBIs and closed out the game pitching the final two innings.
The Bear Cubs controlled the lead throughout the entire game, but a scare in the seventh inning caused head coach Damon Neidlinger to put Charpiot in at pitcher. Before Charpiot, the Saints scored three runs in a row off of pitcher Jake McCoy and switched the momentum of the game drastically. With all the momentum in the Saints’ favor, Charpiot was put in a challenging situation, but he played the Bear Cubs’ savior.
Charpiot struck out two batters in the final three innings and never let the Saints score again. “My whole thing was just to try and pick him [Jake McCoy] up and keep his runs off the board,” Charpiot said. “In the end it worked out great and led to a win.”
Charpiot not only saved the game, but he led the team in RBIs with two and continues to lead the team in overall RBIs on the season with 14, seven more than the next player on the team.
Offensively, outfielder Michael O’Daniel hit his first home run of the season. After O’Daniel’s solo shot, the Bear Cubs offense stalled until the sixth inning when Charpiot, outfielder Alex Leopard and pitcher Austin Ehrlicher all hit 2 RBI singles that extended their lead to 8-1.
The Bear Cubs’ bats are scorching hot with eight runs in each of the last four games and there is no sign of stopping. Santa Rosa has won six of its last seven games and are currently sitting three games above .500, a turnaround the team needed after losing its first two games of the season.
The Bear Cubs next two games are against College of Marin, a team the Bear Cubs scored its season-high amount of runs against. The first of two meetings will be played at 2 p.m Tuesday at Sypher Field.
