Schuknecht Homers, Drives in Three as Tigers Top Santa Ana, 6-3 Tuesday

RIVERSIDE -- David Schuknecht drilled his third home run of the season and delievered a two-run single for a pair of insurance runs as the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers baseball team broke into the victory column in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) play with a 6-3 home win over the visiting Santa Ana College (SAC) Dons Tuesday (Mar. 3) afternoon at the Evans Sports Complex.

Riverside (13-3 overall, 1-2 OEC), which won its first ten games to open the season, last week lost its first two OEC games (both on the road) before notching the credit sign against Santa Ana.

Schuknecht, a sophomore LF from Palm Desert, gave RCC a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when he deposited the first pitch he saw over the fence in right-center field. With the Tigers nursing a 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, he rifled a two-out, bases-loaded single up the middle to give RCC its 6-3 lead.

Freshman 3B Brody Weiss, who hails from Denver, CO (Regis Jesuit HS), gave RCC a 1-0 lead with a RBI double in the bottom of the first. Sophomore DH Garrett Dean (Alta Loma / Alta Loma HS), who doubled ahead of Weiss in the first and scored, went four for five in the game. Weiss went three for five.

Through 16 games among regular starting players for RCC, Weiss leads the team in hitting at .371 (26 for 70, six doubles, 19 RBI), with Dean close behind at .366 (15 for 41). Schuknecht, who struggled in the early going, has found his stroke and is batting .291 (three HRs, 15 RBI).

Sophomore starting RHP Angel Delgado (Beaumont / Beaumont '13), who was perfect for five innings last Tuesday (Feb. 24) against Mt. San Antonio, had another solid start before being touched for three runs in the top of the eighth as the Dons crept to within 4-3. Delgado allowed three hits (two doubles) at the start of the eighth before yielding. RCC sophomore RHP closer David Robles (San Bernardino / Rialto HS) pitched the ninth and gained his fourth save.

Delgado went seven innings plus and allowed five hits, three runs (all earned) one walk and struck out five to improve to 2-0. He earned run average is 3.04 in 23-2/3 innings pitched.

Santa Ana (11-4-1, 2-1 OEC) got on the scoreboard when freshman LF Colin Winn, who had two hits, doubled into the right-field corner to open the eighth and came around to score on a RBI double by pinch hitter Julio Garcia. Dillon Fetty pinch ran for Garcia and scored on a wild pitch. Sophomore CF Cameron Baranek, who singled, scored on a RBI groundout off the bat of "sophomore" 2B Alex Mascarenas to get the Dons close. Mascarenas, who was a starting safety on the UCLA football team a couple of seasons ago, already has earned a bachelor's degree from UCLA.

SAC sophomore starting LHP Matthew Grier lasted only the first three innings and allowed three runs (all earned) on six hits as he received his first decision of the season (0-1).

Both teams continue OEC action on Thursday, Mar. 5, at 2 p.m. when Santa Ana visits the Fullerton College Hornets and RCC hosts the Saddleback College Gauchos.

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