Great pitching and solid defense make up the theme of the 2013 Bear Cubs Baseball team as they make their way toward the postseason.

The team faced off against conference foe Diablo Valley College April 25 at SRJC’s Sypher Field in one of the final games of the regular season. The Bear Cubs were once again led by a strong pitching performance from starter Jason Alexander, who pitched eight innings allowing just five hits and no runs.
The Bear Cubs backed up a great pitching performance with offensive production throughout the lineup. Outfielder Ryan Xepoleas drove in two runs with a single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, and catcher Spencer Neve also picked up two RBI’s of his own. The Bear Cubs went on to defeat Diablo Valley 5-0.

“It is crucial to a team’s success to have offensive production up and down the lineup,” infielder Brent Gillespie said.

“Our lineup can be mixed up in any way because we have nine quality hitters that can hit in all parts of the lineup.”

The next day the Bears Cubs played their final home game of the regular season against Cosumnes River College. Brian Bynum toed the rubber for SRJC, pitching well over eight innings, allowing one earned run. But the Bear Cub offense went dormant, picking up only one hit for the entire game and losing by the score of 2-0.

“Bynum pitched an excellent game,” Gillespie said. “He pitched well enough to keep us in the game. We just couldn’t string anything together for him offensively.”

The Bear Cubs finished the regular season with a conference record of 17-4, putting them in a tie with Sierra College for first place in the Big 8 Conference.  SRJC is scheduled to compete in a play-in game April 30, at a location and time yet to be determined.