Posted: Mar 25, 2017
Coalinga, CA – On Saturday afternoon Head coach Stefan McGovern and the West Hills College baseball squad (4-9) defeated Fresno City College (6-3) by the score of 10-4. Fresno City was able to win the first two games of this three game series. The Falcons overall record on the 2017 season is 14-12.
Starting pitcher Chad Gotto (5-2) played a huge role in the Falcons victory. Gotto battled tough and got his squad out of some tough situations. Keeping the ball low in the strike zone and throwing first pitch strikes helped Gotto develop a smooth tempo to work with. In seven and one thirds innings worked, Gotto allowed only four hits and two runs.
The Falcons were able to jump to an early lead in the second inning by capitalizing on a Rams error. With Jeffrey Torres at second base Brian Perales drove a base hit to right field for the first run of the day. Matt Siedem kept the inning going with a single to center field to drive in Perales.
The momentum stayed with the Falcons as the offense kept things rolling. Another Rams fielding mistake got the inning started. A walk to Alante Uribe put runners at the corners for left-handed hitter Torin Miller. Miller singled to left-center field to drive in Scotty Ingle from third base. Uribe was then scored on the same play from a throwing error on Fresno City. Brandon Barker followed up the next at bat with an RBI double to deep right field. A successful squeeze bunt from Ronnie Cross brought in Barker and capped off a four run inning for West Hills.
In the fifth inning Fresno City seemed to have something going. With runners in scoring position pressure was now on WHCC. With one out in the inning Falcons shortstop Jake Lorenzini was able to nab a line drive and then toss it to teammate Scotty Ingle at second base to complete the double play and get out of the jam.
A leadoff walk to Lorenzini followed by Ingle being hit by a pitch began a big Falcon sixth inning. Uribe drove the first run of the inning in with a single up the middle to bring in Lorenzini. Torin Miller then followed it up with a single to plate Ingle. With bases loaded Jeff Torres brought home the third run of the inning by earning a base on balls. After six innings complete the score was 9-0 in favor of West Hills. WHCC was able to plate its tenth run in the seventh innning of the ball game with a Brandon Barker double, his second of the game, down the right field line.
The Rams were able to plate its first runs of the day late in the ballgame. A Falcon error followed by a double to right field started off the Fresno City eighth inning. The Rams were able to plate three runs on three hits and one Falcon error.
It was freshman Fernando Ramirez called to relieve Gotto on the mound. Ramirez was able to close the game out for West Hills and allowed one hit, struck out one Ram batter, and allowed one earned run.
Coach McGovern was very pleased with how the team played, as he stated "I've been telling these guys all year that they were as good as anybody. At times, our offense has picked up the pitchers and other times our pitching picked up the hitters, but today we played our best game of the year. Hopefully, this proves to our guys how good we can be and we'll continue to get better."
Next up: The Falcons will hit the road on Tuesday, March 28th and begin a three game series vs. Porterville College (0-9). First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
West Hills 10 – Fresno City 4
Series Schedule:
Game 1: West Hills 4 – Fresno City 8
Game 2: West Hills 2 – Fresno City 10
Game 3: West Hills 10 – Fresno City 4
For the latest on Falcons baseball, including news and score updates, follow @whcbaseball on Twitter.