The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team moved to 3-0 in preseason after another win headlined by dominant pitching, this time a 4-1 win over West Valley College at home on Tuesday.
After 11-2 and 5-1 wins against Chabot, the Bear Cubs have a 20-4 run differential in three games.
“I told the guys, there’s three components to baseball as a team,” assistant coach Tom Francois said. “Good pitching, clean defense, and timely hitting. And that’s what we’ve been getting.”
Freshman Luke Dillon got the start on the mound for the Bear Cubs on Tuesday and immediately went to work filling up the zone and keeping hitters off balance. In three innings, Dillon allowed no hits and no runs with one walk and three strikeouts.
Dillon deceived hitters by working backwards, setting hitters up by showing them multiple off-speed pitches before bringing out the fastball and catching them on their backfoot.
“I’m always pitching backwards, it’s what I do best,” he said.
Additionally, Dillon took advantage of hitters taking their time getting in the box, and caught them off-guard by working quickly.
After three strong innings by Dillon, the Bear Cubs offense got rolling in the bottom of the third.
Freshman shortstop Brett Neidlinger and sophomore catcher Mason Cox opened up the frame with an infield single and a walk respectively.
Freshman third baseman Caze Derammalaere laid down a bunt that Vikings pitcher Julian Ito threw away and down the right field line allowing both runners to score and Derammalaere to move up to second base.
Derammalaere tagged up twice on sac flies by freshman center fielder Cooper Wood and freshman left fielder Shane Moran, scoring to put the Bear Cubs up 3-0.
Freshman left-hander Lucas Hermes came in to pitch in the top of the fourth. Hermes offered a much different look from Dillon, throwing hard from a three-quarter arm slot from the left side.
This different look appeared to keep the Vikings off-balance, as Hermes quickly set down his first six hitters. Hermes gave up a walk in the top of the sixth before locking back in and setting down the next three.
In the bottom of the sixth, freshman designated hitter J.T. Summers walked and advanced to second on a passed ball. Summers scored when a Neidlinger popup fell in short right field, putting the Bear Cubs up 4-0.
Hermes got into some trouble in the top of the seventh, when a runner reached and advanced to second on an error by sophomore first baseman Josh Martin. Back-to-back singles allowed the runner to score, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Hermes settled down and induced a popped up bunt to Cox, followed by a hard line out to Derammalaere, then an inning ground out to Neidlinger, stranding two runners to escape the jam.
“I just focused on one pitch at a time,” Hermes said about working out of the tough spot.
Hermes went four innings with three hits, one walk, one run and four strikeouts.
Hard-throwing righty Raul Valdivia came in after Hermes and pitched a smooth final six outs, allowing no runs, no hits and one walk while picking up two strikeouts. The highlight of Valdivia’s outing was a no-look behind-the-back grab on a line drive hit back at him.
Valdivia picked up the save, and gave the Bear Cubs a 4-1 win. SRJC will be back in action at home on Wednesday against Los Medanos.
