The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team fell to the Modesto Junior College Pirates 7-3 after costly mistakes, poor pitching, and untimely offense plummeted the Bear Cubs to the brink of elimination on May 7 at Modesto.
The Bear Cubs struggled to gain any momentum during Thursday’s contest, getting out hit 10-4, while also allowing three wild pitches, and four stolen bases.
“Their pitching was good, they got timely hitting, and they got speed on base,” assistant coach Tom Francois said. “[They] got six guys with double digits stolen bases, they’re always a threat.”
Lucas Hermes took the mound and looked to replicate last week’s complete game performance but got into trouble his first few innings.
The Pirates were prepared and pounced on a ball for a leadoff triple in the first inning before scoring on a sac fly to take the early advantage.
Modesto continued in the second by scoring a run on a groundout after Hermes allowed runners on the corners giving Modesto a 2-0 lead.
The Bear Cub offense failed to reach on base the first time through the lineup, but showed a little life in the fourth inning after first baseman J.T. Summers singled to left field with two outs.
Catcher Chase Sutherland walked before second baseman Brett Neidlinger drove a hot shot to the third baseman that went under the glove to score a run.
Modesto responded with a leadoff double in the fifth that eventually turned into a run after a sac bunt advanced the runner to third and a groundout drove the runner home to get one back.
The Bear Cubs had their biggest chance to create damage in the sixth inning after getting runners on the corners, allowing Summers an at-bat.
Summers drove in a run on a double play, and while the Bear Cubs got within one, the double play killed the rally. Santa Rosa would try to gain momentum in the seventh inning after left fielder Anane Wilson got hit by a pitch, but the designated hitter grounded out for another double play.
Francois reflected on the offenses’ production during big time at-bats.
“Some guys were pressing a little bit, and wanted to get the big hit,” he said. “There were a couple good ABs out there but there’s gotta be production.”
The game came tumbling down for Santa Rosa in the seventh inning.
Wyatt Abramson relieved Hermes who finished with seven strikeouts, three earned runs on seven hits in six innings.
Three different pitchers were used in the bottom of the seventh for Santa Rosa, including Jack Langley and Blake Bryson.
In total, the Bear Cubs allowed four wild pitches, two passed balls, four stolen bases, three hits, and four runs allowed which created a 7-2 advantage for Modesto and ultimately pulled the games away.
“We couldn’t hold our water man,” Francois said. “And that’s what happened, a couple wild pitches scored a couple runs. You can’t play playoff baseball like that because they’re gonna capitalize on it.”
Pitcher Zach Fiene slowed the tempo down against Modesto in the eighth inning with two groundouts and a pop-out.
Santa Rosa showed a little bit of hope in the ninth by loading the bases with no outs. But the Bear Cubs only mustered one run after striking out, and grounding out twice to end the game.
“I said this many times, whoever [capitalizes] on the most errors, whichever team is hot, they’re gonna win,” Francois said. “These guys are darn good.”
The biggest change Francois wants to see Friday is to be more aggressive. “We got to be more aggressive on a strike, we got to hit it hard, and we got to hit line drives,” he said. “But hey, tomorrow’s another day, and we’ll see what we can do.”
The Bear Cubs face Modesto in a win or go home situation in the NorCal super regionals on Friday 1 p.m to force a game three on Saturday.
