Riverside, Calif. – Coming up with some timely two-out hitting, the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers edged the visiting Golden West College (GWC) Rustlers, 6-4, Thursday afternoon in an Orange Empire Conference (OEC) game at the Evans Sports Complex.
The RCC win snapped an 11-game unbeaten streak that GWC had brought into the game (five wins, one, tie, then another five wins). Prior to today, GWC's last loss was a 6-1 setback to the College of Sequoias Feb. 10.
Riverside (8-9, 3-1 OEC) led, 1-0, trailed, 2-1, led, 4-2, and was tied, 4-4, heading into the bottom of the seventh when – with two outs and nobody aboard – freshman SS Nick Bruno (Hemet / Hemet HS) laced a single to center field and stole second base to give sophomore CF Cade Gotta (Solana Beach / San Diego Christian HS) drilled a line drive which just eluded the outstretched glove of the leaping GWC sophomore CF Donald Sneed (Huntington Beach / Edison HS) and bounced all the way to the base of the center-field fence, chasing Bruno home with the go-ahead run and Gotta raced around the bases for the inside-the-park home run and a 6-4 Tigers lead.
Golden West (11-5-1, 3-1 OEC) tied the game a 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of unearned runs. A pair of singles, a fielding error, a stolen base, a walk, a wild pitch and a run-producing fielder's choice helped forge the short-lived tie.
The Tigers pushed across three runs in the third when they loaded the bases on a bloop single to left field, a walk by Bruno and a single by Gotta. Freshman RF Ryan Garvey (Palm Desert / Palm Desert HS) sent a 0-1 pitch through the left side to drive in the first run of the frame. Two outs later, freshman 1B Daniel Arellano (Corona / Centennial HS) drilled a 1-2 pitch to center field, chasing home Bruno and Gotta for a 4-2 RCC lead.
Riverside starter, sophomore RHP Matt Chabot (Riverside / Woodcrest Christian HS) lasted only 5-1/3 innings and was in line for the win when he left with the 4-2 lead, but he eventually allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks to wind up with a no decision. RCC's second reliever of the game, freshman LHP John Kappmeyer (Cathedral City / Cathedral City HS) came on in the seventh inning to spell freshman RHP Joe Molina (Redlands / East Valley HS) and went the final 2-2/3 innings to pick up the win (1-2), but not without some ninth-inning drama by Golden West.
The Rustlers loaded the bases on a single, a walk and an error on a sacrifice bunt, before freshman 3B Bobby Webb (Long Beach / Wilson HS) delivered a RBI-single through the left side to reload the bases as GWC crept to within 6-5. After a shallow fly out, Kappmeyer induced freshman SS Kyle Jones (Huntington Beach / Edison HS) to hit into a 5-3 double play to end the game in only 2:11.
For RCC, Gotta and Bruno each had two hits. Gotta added two RBI and two runs, while Bruno scored three times. For GWC, Webb went three for four and was also hit by a pitch. Freshman RHP Nicholas Hanson (Huntington Beach / Edison HS) went the distance for GWC and yielded seven hits, six runs (five earned) and one walk with eight strikeouts (100 pitches, 72 strikes) and saw his record fall to 2-1.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, Mar. 10, at 12 p.m. when RCC hosts the Irvine Valley College (IVC) Lasers and GWC hosts the Orange Coast College (OCC) Pirates in OEC action.
