Posted: Feb 23, 2013
at Riverside City College Tigers 5, Sacramento City College Panthers 0 (
RIVERSIDE – Sophomore third-baseman Ricardo Rodriguez went two for three and drove in the first two runs and the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's baseball team took advantage of six errors to post a 5-0 non-conference home win over the Sacramento City College (SCC) Panthers Saturday afternoon at the Evans Sports Complex.
With its third consecutive win (following three straight losses), Riverside City improved to 9-4, while Sacramento City fell to 4-7 with the loss, its third in a row.
Rodriguez (Moreno Valley – Canyon Springs HS), stroked a 1-0 pitch through the left side of the infield to drive in freshman DH David Schuknecht (Palm Desert / Palm Desert HS / U. of Arizona), who had walked with two outs and advanced to second on a wild pitch as the Tigers led, 1-0, in the first inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, freshman C Michael Deceglie (Rancho Cucamonga / Los Osos HS) walked to open the inning. Two outs later, and after Deceglie went to second base on a wild pitch, Schuknecht drilled a line-drive comebacker off the midsection of SCC starting sophomore RHP Matt Maher (Roseville HS). Maher appeared no worse for the wear, but then Rodriguez sent a groundball to the left side that sophomore SS Jorge Vina (Elk Grove HS) gloved deep into the hole for an infield single to drive in Deceglie, but his high throw to first allowed Schuknecht to advance to third as RCC led, 2-0.
Rodriguez finished with a two-for-three day with two RBI, while sophomore 2B Brandon Van Horn (La Canada-Flintridge / St. Francis HS) went two for four. Sacramento City was shut-out for the second time in the three-game series against RCC.
Sacramento City had only one runner reach third (in the second inning), until the ninth. RCC freshman RHP Tanner Kiest (Yucaipa / Yucaipa HS), who came on in the eighth in relief of RCC sophomore transfer RHP Edgar Gomez (Indio / Indio HS / Long Beach State), loaded the bases (with no outs) in the ninth on a single, a walk and a hit batter. RCC head coach Dennis Rogers summoned freshman LHP Joseph Sullivan (Upland / Upland HS) and he promptly struck out the first two batters he faced and then induced a game-ending force out to earn his first save of the season. Gomez' record improved to 3-0, while Maher's ledger fell to 1-1.
Another quick game was played as this one took only 2:30 to play. With its ninth win in 13 games (and ninth low-run game), the Tigers raised their team batting average to .202 (79 hits in 391 at-bats) and lowered their team earned run average (ERA) to 2.35. Conversely, RCC opponents are batting .226 with a team ERA of 2.54.
Both team return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 26. Sacramento City will host Los Medanos College at 2 p.m. Riverside will host the Mt. San Antonio College Mounties at 6 p.m. and will try to avenge a 3-2 loss in Walnut last Wednesday (Feb. 20).