The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team dominated on all fronts in a 15-3 win over Cosumnes River College at home on Tuesday.
Jordan Giacomini started on the mound for the Bear Cubs and went 3 ⅓ innings with two runs, three hits and four walks allowed.
The Bear Cubs bats wasted no time, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by first baseman Josh Martin and third baseman Dalen Tinsley.
The Bear Cubs took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third when three scored on two walks, a hit, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.
After three innings with three walks but no damage, Giacomini got into trouble in the fourth, allowing a two-run double that nearly scored a third if not for a relay that saw second baseman Keenan Morris gun a runner out at home.
Luke Schat took over for Giacomini and struck out two to get out of the inning, with the Bear Cubs leading 5-2.
Martin increased the lead to 6-2 by hitting a sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the game. The bottom of the fourth rally was killed when Jake McCoy was called out on a controversial batter’s interference.
After a quiet fifth inning, Martin drove in yet another run, this time on a double for his third RBI. The Bear Cubs led 7-2 after the sixth.
Cosumnes River cut the lead to 7-3 on an RBI single in the top of the seventh.
The Bear Cubs answered back and then some, increasing the lead to 11-3 on a two-run single by center fielder Alex Leopard, yet another RBI single by Martin, and a sacrifice fly by Tinsley.
The onslaught continued in the bottom of the eighth when shortstop Aidan Lombardi drove in a run on an opposite-field single before Leopard added insult to injury with a no-doubt three-run shot to give SRJC a 15-3 lead.
Leopard took over on the mound to close out the ninth and got three quick outs to seal the win for the Bear Cubs.
In six plate appearances, Leopard reached base all six times with three hits including the home run, two walks and a hit-by-pitch as part of a five-RBI day.
“I’m just trying to get the next guy up,” said Leopard. “I just try not to think about the things I can’t control, and get a good pitch and hit it hard.”
Martin finished with three hits, a walk and four RBI. Schat pitched 4 ⅔ strong with six strikeouts and one run allowed.
The Bear Cubs registered 15 hits with six walks and five hit batters, as well as several clutch sacrifice flies and bunts.
“We’ve been working like crazy on hitting and it’s paying dividends,” said assistant coach Tom Francois. “We’ve had good situational hitting.”
SRJC will look to keep up the hot hitting in game two of the three-game series on the road against Cosumnes River on Thursday.
