The SRJC Bear Cubs baseball team was supposed to lose the final game against the Sierra College Wolverines on April 7. After all, the odds were stacked against them.
The Bear Cubs had struggled in the first two games of the series and the chance to salvage the third and final game looked bleak. Players seemed lost at the plate and on the mound, a bad combination for the pitching strong Bear Cubs who run a small ball strategy that has led them to a 15-10 record.
The first game against Sierra was lost by only one run, even though the Bear Cubs had to use four pitchers to get through the game. But the April 5 game was where it all fell apart. The struggling Bryan Webster, who received the deserved 4-1 loss in his last start, created trouble for himself with three hit batsmen and an inability to hit his spots. If it wasn’t for Sierra getting greedy on the base paths, the damage could have been far worse for the sophomore right-hander. Still, Sierra took SRJC for nine runs and sent the Bear Cubs back home dreading a sweep on April 7.
Determined not to let the first two games keep the team from giving it their all, the Bear Cubs approached the final game like any other. Even though SRJC would have to face Josh Eagle, who was expected to baffle hitters with a “freak-like” changeup that sinks and disappears entirely as it approaches the box. Eagle is considered the Big 8 Conference’s best pitcher, leading the conference in wins (8) and strikeouts (59) and among earned run average leaders (1.61). Because of this, Sierra was the clear favorite to win.
“You have to take that with a grain of salt [regarding Eagle]“ said Patrick Moniez, freshman utility infielder. “Every pitcher in our conference is good; every team in our conference can compete. We have to take it one game at a time. We can’t be overanalyzing thing like that. Got to play it like every other game.”
And the Bear Cubs tried to do just that.
The crowd at Sypher Field was as hungry for a win like every player in the dugout. Loud, fiery cheers erupted for every ball hit and strike called in the Bear Cubs favor. For four innings, SRJC put good swings on the ball, but still could not overcome their opponent on the mound.
Eagle was throwing strikes and the Bear Cubs had trouble picking up his specialty pitch: most hitters either popped up or struckout swinging. But SRJC did not let the team’s problems at the plate get them down, not when the Bear Cubs had an ace dealing on the mound as well. Pitcher Jason Alexander challenged Eagle every inning. He almost matched the Sierra pitcher through four innings, having given up only one hit while fanning four. It would only be tiny mistakes from both pitchers in the fifth inning that proved both Alexander and Eagle were actually human.
After allowing a single to Kaden Kamoe to lead off the fifth, Alexander threw a pitch in the dirt that got away from catcher Alex Sasloff. Kamoe took third on the play and eventually scored the first run of the game after a spectacular squeeze play with Clint Brill at the plate. The unexpected move had even the loyalist of Bear Cub fans clapping in admiration.
But in the next half-inning, the fans were able to cheer with all their might as SRJC shortstop Nick Rodda hit in Ryan Xepoleas to tie the game.
The next few innings continued in the same fashion as it began: essentially a pitcher’s duel. But Alexander would prove he was the better of the two as Eagle left a mistake pitch over the plate in the eighth for Moniez to take advantage of for a double to left-center. Three batters latter Eagle would be sunk by the same play that his team so beautifully pulled off for Sierra’s only run: a suicide-like squeeze. Moniez would score and Alexander would take the mound in the ninth on route to being a one-run, complete game winner.
“I was ready for this game,” Alexander said. “I didn’t want to overthink anything. Just wanted to go out there and play my game. And that’s what I did.”
The Bear Cubs had completely turned the Sierra game around with their 2-1 victory and are hoping to pull ahead in the next couple of weeks to gain a spot in post-conference baseball. While April did not start out as the team had hope, the next few weeks should fare better.
“We have to play the same way, the same effort the same fight and mentality the rest of the way,” Rodda said. “We have to not get over confident with ourselves and just lean back a little and keep fighting.”
The Bear Cubs next game will be against Consumnes River College at 2:30 p.m. April 10 at SRJC’s Sypher Field.
