BASEBALL ELIMINATED FROM POST SEASON

BASEBALL ELIMINATED FROM POST SEASON

The Bakersfield College baseball team was eliminated from the CCCAA Southern California Regional playoffs after the Renegades struggled to score runs for a second straight day against visiting Riverside City College.  One day removed from getting shutout by the ninth-seeded Tigers in Game 1 of the two team's first-round, best-of-three game series, No. 8 BC once again couldn't get its offense going.  RCC jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before clinching a berth in the second round with an 8-1, Game 2 victory at Gerry Collis Field on Saturday. 

"We didn't have any offense the entire weekend," BC coach Tim Painton said. "When you score one run in 18 innings you're not going to win a series. It's as simple as that. For whatever reason our offense didn't show up. I'm still proud of our kids. To get here after a 6-13 start (to the season) is not an easy road."  The Renegades (21-21) had 10 hits and three walks but failed to come through in the clutch against Tigers' pitchers David Barela and Alexander Salazar.  Barela started the game on the mound and went 7 2/3 inning in which he allowed one run on nine hits and two walks. Her also had six strikeouts.  For his effort, the 5-foot-10, sophomore left-hander earned the victory.  Salazar hurled 1 1/3 scoreless innings to nail down the victory for RCC (27-15).

 A quartet of BC pitchers (Lane Cowan, Frankie Villasenor, Josh Hernandez, and Chris Diaz) combined to surrender a total 17 hits and three walks.  Cowan, BC's starter, took the loss. He gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks during four innings on the mound.  The Renegades lone run came in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Hector Ruvalcaba.

Ashanti Ross led off the inning with a single to left field and then advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw by Barela. Two batters later Ruvalcaba came to the plate with two outs and laced a line drive into centerfield, scoring the speedy Ross.  Ruvalcaba (2 for 3, 1 RBI), Ross (2 for 5, 1 run scored) and Brycin Hernandez (2 for 4) all had multiple hits for BC, which didn't have an extra base hit during the two games against Riverside.  Zach Williams, the team-leader coming in the series in at bats (147) hits (40), walks (34), homeruns (3), triples (5), extra base hits (14), runs (40), RBI (32), stolen bases (13), OBP (.492), and SLG (.510) had a walk and infield single to keep his streak of consecutive games of reaching base at least one time to 12.

 "Today, even though the scoreboard says 10 hits, we never had a timely hit," Painton said. "I felt their pitcher (Barela) did an outstanding job of throwing three pitches for strikes. They brought their other starter in to close the game…You have to tip your hats to Riverside. The played better defense than we did. They pitched better than we did. And certainly, offensively they were better than us this weekend."