Posted: Apr 25, 2017
Visalia, California - The West Hills College baseball team (19-19) lost in extra innings to Central Valley Conference opponent College of The Sequoias on Tuesday afternoon. A bases loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning secured the 5-4 Giants victory. The win moves the Falcons conference record to 8-11.
Once again southpaw Spencer Hammond had another impressive outing on the mound for West Hills. In nine innings of work Hammond allowed three earned runs while sitting down seven Giant batters down on strikes.
It was Sequoias that was able to bring in the first runs of the ballgame. In the fourth inning a leadoff single followed by a walk started off a two run Giants inning. With bases loaded a soft pop fly to shallow left field brought in the first run of the day. With runners on second and third base a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in the second Giants run.
The Falcons were able to respond with a run of its own in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs Jake Lorenzini kept the innings going with a single to left field. A wild pitch followed by an Evan Richards single to right field scored Lorenzini to make the score 2-1.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning COS was able to capitalize on a Falcon fielding mistake. The two out West Hills error showed to be costly as a two out double plated another run. The Giants brought across another run in the sixth inning with a sacrifice bunt with runners at the corners. After six innings of play the Giants led by the score of 4-1.
The Falcons got the bats goings in later innings of the ballgame. Solly Maddox started the Falcon seventh inning off with a one out single to right-center field. Lorenzini followed by Maddox with a double down the left field line. With runners in scoring position it was Evan Richards coming up big for the Falcons with a two-RBI single. It was now a one run ballgame headed to the eighth inning.
Alante Uribe reached base in the top of the eighth inning by earning a base on balls. A single from Brain Perales put runners on first and second for teammate Jeff Torres. Torres barreled up a ball to deep right field to drive in Uribe from second base and tie the game up.
As the game headed to extra innings head coach Stefan McGovern made two pitching changes on the mound for WHCC. Sophomore Matt Siedem (1-2) and Freshman Fernando Ramirez came in to relieve Hammond on the bump. With bases loaded in the inning a full count pitch was batted on behalf of the Falcons. The home plate umpire signaled fair for the hit and earned Sequoias the 5-4 win.
For the latest on Falcons baseball, including news and score updates, follow @whcbaseball on Twitter.