Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Rustlers 2013 season started with a heartfelt tribute to a Golden West great, Fred Hoover. With touching words from Head Coach Bert Villarreal, and strong alumni support, Fred's wife Barbara threw out the first pitch and she and her family were presented with a banner commemorating Hoov's lasting impact on the Golden West Baseball program. 

Golden West (1-1) had a strong defensive start, holding Palomar (1-1) scoreless until the top of the fourth inning.  Sophomore pitcher Lucas Kaplan held the mound for six innings, walking just one Comet batter in the top of the first inning. 

The Rustlers got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs. Michael Gregory got to first on a Palomar error, followed by teammate Frank Califano who singled, advancing Gregory to second. Sophomore Thomas Walker singled bringing both Califano and Gregory home. 

Going into the ninth, the Rustlers had a 2-1 lead. But the Comets charged their last inning, sending 5 players across home base, giving Palomar a 4 run lead over Golden West. The Rustlers put it all on the line in the bottom of the ninth, but were only able to score twice. Daniel Dewolf came home on a single by Andrew Yazdanbakhsh, advancing Thomas Walker, who scored the last run of the game  on an RBI single from Nicholas Marshall. 

NEXT: The Rustlers travel to LA Valley on Tuesday, Feb 5 for a 2:00pm start.