After taking a 1-0 lead in the series Friday, the Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team dropped two games at home Saturday and Sunday to lose the NorCal regional finals to Sierra in heartbreaking fashion.
Game 1
The Bear Cubs took Game 1 over Sierra in a 7-5 win behind a first-inning grand slam by sophomore second baseman Joe Brown.
Brown’s blast followed hits by freshman right fielder Ayden Herrguth and freshman designated hitter JT Summers, and a walk by sophomore first baseman Josh Martin.
Sophomore third baseman Tyler Nordyke added an RBI double later in the inning to give the Bear Cubs a 5-0 lead in the first.
Russell Freedheim started on the mound for SRJC. He ran into trouble in his one inning of work, loading the bases on two hits and a walk but managed to escape the jam without allowing a run.
Sophomore Brice Cox came on in relief of Freedheim in the second. After a bit of traffic in the second inning, Cox settled in and was smooth sailing through the fifth.
Cox lost his command in the sixth, loading the bases on a hit batter and two walks before recording an out. He picked up a strikeout for the first out before allowing a single up the middle to bring in a run.
Freshman lefty Lucas Hermes relieved Cox and allowed two runs on a fielder’s choice followed by an infield single. Hermes escaped the jam, but Sierra had trimmed the deficit to 5-3.
The Bear Cubs responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth, increasing the lead to 7-3 on a two-run single by Nordyke for his second and third RBIs of the game.
Sierra answered in the top of the seventh, plating one after Hermes allowed two hits, a walk and a fielder’s choice. Sophomore closer Raul Valdivia came on and got out of the jam, with the 7-4 lead still intact.
Valdivia loaded the bases in the eighth but managed to escape again. After two strikeouts to open the ninth, he gave up a walk and two hits to bring home another Sierra run. Valdivia bounced back and struck out the final batter, striking out the side to secure the 7-5 win.
Game 2
The Bear Cubs offense kicked off the game with a four-run top of the first inning. Freshman center fielder Cooper Wood walked to lead off the game and advanced to third on a Sierra error on a ground ball from freshman right fielder Anane Wilson. Wood came around to score on a wild pitch and Wilson came around to score on an RBI single up the middle by Summers.
Sierra pitching kept the inning alive on a walk to Brown, a hit by pitch by sophomore left fielder Shane Moran and another walk to Nordyke. A two-RBI off the bat of freshman shortstop Caze Derammelaere brought home Brown and Moran to make the game 4-0. Sierra answered right away.
Freshman pitcher Wyatt Abramson opened the game for the Bear Cubs and immediately got into trouble. Two massive two RBI home runs one from first baseman Cody Ferrante and second baseman Brady Ranallo quickly tied the game. Abramson only recorded one out before being relieved by sophomore pitcher Caleb Okada.
The Bear Cubs took their lead right back with three runs in the second inning. Wood drew his second lead off walk of the game followed by a bloop single by Wilson. Wood and Wilson scored on a pair of doubles off the bat of Summers and Martin to make the game 7-4.
For the second inning in a row Sierra matched the Bear Cubs. Okada found himself in trouble with Two walks and they would come back to bite after an RBI double and an RBI single brought in three Sierra runs to tie the game at 7-7.
The Bear Cubs offense continued to fight, taking the lead back in the third inning. Derammelaere and sophomore catcher Cameron Duran opened up the inning both being hit by pitches and a second Sierra error of the game allowed Derammelaere to score to make the game 8-7.
The Bear Cubs extended their lead in the fourth inning on a massive home run over the right field wall off the bat of Moran making the game 9-7. Sierra answered and never looked back.
Sierra tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on two more hits and an error in the inning making the game 9-9.
The Bear Cubs offense fell silent only putting up three more hits in the remaining five innings while the Sierra offense continued to punish the Bear Cubs pitching. Okada handed the ball over to freshman pitcher Evan Sandoval in the sixth inning ending his outing at 4 2/3 innings giving up five runs on five hits.
Sierra jumped all over Sandoval putting up three more runs on two hits in the sixth inning giving them their first lead of the game at 12-9. Sandoval walked the leadoff hitter in the seventh and was replaced by freshman pitcher Keller Ausbun for his first inning of the season and was greeted with Ranallo’s second home run of the game to blow the game open at 15-9.
“It’s just frustrating to lose like that, [Sierra] stepped up, they’re playing for it too,” Assistant Coach Tom Francois said.Preview (opens in a new tab)
The Bear Cubs couldn’t answer and Sierra closed out a 15-9 win with a shutdown eighth and ninth inning to force Game 3.
Game 3
The SRJC offense never got going in the 3-1 loss in Game 3, the Bear Cubs’ lowest-scoring offensive performance of the season.
“We’ve never been held to one run,” Francois said. “I didn’t care about the three [Sierra runs] because I thought we’d answer back.”
Nordyke hit an infield single to bring home a run in the second for the only SRJC run. It was one of only four Bear Cubs hits in the game.
Sophomore pitcher Jordan Giacomini started on the mound after being absent from the field the previous day due to illness. He lasted only two innings, allowing four hits but limiting Sierra to one run.
Sophomore pitcher Luke Schat relieved Giacomini and held the line in his longest outing of the season, going 6 2/3 innings, and allowing two runs on six hits.
Valdivia got the final out in the top of the ninth to maintain the 3-1 deficit.
The Bear Cubs offense threatened multiple times but never managed to score after the second inning. In the fifth, Derammelaere reached third with one out but was stranded.
Summers came up with two on and two out in the eighth but flew out to center. He went 0-for-4 on the day, along with Wood and Herrguth at the top of the lineup.
Sierra pitcher Anthony Martinez played hero for the Wolverines, pitching a complete game with just one run and four hits allowed. He entered the game with a 5.40 season ERA, and had not gone more than six innings in any prior outing.
“You gotta tip your hat,” Francois said. “That kid did a heck of a job.”
With the upset win, Sierra will join West Valley as the NorCal representatives in the state championship, with Mt. San Antonio and Cypress representing SoCal.
“It’s gonna take me a while to get over this one,” Francois said. “We were that close and with a darn good team.”
