Led by dominant pitching and an explosive second inning, the Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team won its first game of super regional playoffs, defeating San Joaquin Delta 9-0 at home Thursday.
Delta lost 6-2 to Folsom Lake in the 11 a.m. game prior to their matchup with the Bear Cubs. With the two losses, Delta is now eliminated from 3C2A playoffs.
Left-hander Lucas Hermes started on the mound for SRJC and dominated in three innings, allowing one hit and no walks while striking out two.
“He did a hell of a job,” assistant coach Tom Francois said.
After a quiet first inning, the Bear Cubs’ offense rallied in the second, putting up five runs. First baseman Josh Martin singled, second baseman Joe Brown doubled and left fielder Shane Moran drove in a two-run single to open the scoring.
Catcher Mason Cox walked and third baseman Tyler Nordyke hit an RBI single to bring in Moran and move Cox to second. Center fielder Cooper Wood hit into a fielder’s choice to bring home Cox and right fielder Ayden Herrguth doubled to bring home Wood.
The Bear Cubs stayed hot in the bottom of third, adding three more on a solo home run by Martin and a two-run shot by third baseman Caze Derammelaere to increase the lead to 7-0.
Delta starting pitcher Jack Soares finished his day with eight runs and eight hits in four innings.
Fellow left-handed pitcher Caleb Okada came on in relief for Hermes in the fourth and dominated the rest of the way, going six innings with no runs, five hits and seven strikeouts.
“You can see his confidence is really locked in right now,” Francois said. “I was really impressed with Okada, he really stepped up.
With the six scoreless innings, Okada lowered his season ERA to 3.04, including regular season and playoffs.
“I had a slow start [this season] and I think just my resilience and just being able to not give in helped me,” Okada said.
The SRJC offense was quiet until the eighth inning when designated hitter J.T. Summers drove a single up the middle to bring home Herrguth.
Okada slammed the door in the ninth, striking out the side to secure the 9-0 win.
With Delta eliminated, the Bear Cubs will now face Folsom Lake in a best-of-three series, with Game 1 Friday at 1 p.m., Game 2 Saturday at 11 a.m. and Game 3 if necessary right after Game 2.
