No. 3 Tigers Get Ahead, Stay Ahead in Win Over No. 2 Saddleback  

After a colossal meltdown in the ninth inning on Tuesday afternoon, the No. 3 Riverside City College baseball team looked to have a short memory entering into the second game of a three-game series against the No. 2 Saddleback College Bobcats. Riverside heated up the bats early and rode strong starting pitching leading to a 15-5 victory.

Freshman starting pitcher David Butler earned his second-career start and made the most of it. He began his outing by retiring the first eight batters which included two strikeouts. He wiggled out of his only threat in the third-inning by forcing a fly out to center field.

The Tigers got on the board early compliments of an RBI triple from sophomore third baseman Ignacio Alvarez, scoring sophomore shortstop Sebastian Flores who reached base via single. I. Alvarez would later come around to score on a passed ball.

Riverside added another run in the top of the second inning on an error by the Bobcat's second baseman, but the back breaking inning came in the fourth as the Tigers plated five runs all with two outs.

Freshman center fielder Julian Alvarez kicked off the two-out rally with a walk and quickly advanced to second on a single from Flores. The Bobcat's second baseman made another crucial error on a ball off the bat from I. Alvarez, scoring J. Alvarez. Sophomore right fielder Matthew Bardowell and freshman designated hitter Bret Bowers followed with consecutive RBI doubles totaling three runs. Freshman first baseman Ramsses Fiero capped the inning with an RBI single, scoring Bowers, leading to an 8-0 advantage.

That was all Butler needed as he cruised through the remainder of his outing by retiring the side in the fourth inning and fanning three batters in the fifth inning despite allowing an unearned run.

Riverside added three more runs over the course of the sixth and seventh innings. Bowers struck again in the sixth inning with his second RBI single of the game, plating Bardowell. J. Alvarez sent home freshman catcher Daniel Briones on a sacrifice ground out, while Bardowell barreled yet another RBI double to right center field, plating Briones, leading to a 11-1 lead.

The Bobcats had some fight in them as freshman reliever Rheego McIntosh entered in the eighth inning gave up a grand slam, but the Tigers turned around and plated four more runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Riverside added insult to injury and was assisted by poor defense from Saddleback once again. J. Alvarez scored on a fielder's choice to begin the melee, while Bowers connected for his third RBI single of the game two batters later. Freshman first baseman Daniel Garcia drew a walk with the bases loaded two batters later, while freshman outfielder Casey Murray capped the scoring by putting a ball in play allowing Bowers to score via error.

Freshman reliever Jordan Townley, who entered in the bottom of the eighth inning, slammed the door shut by retiring the side and finishing with a punch out, thus handing the Tigers a 15-5 win.

 All but one starter recorded at least one hit with Bardowell leading the way on a 5-for-6 day. He squared up two doubles, drove in three runs and scored three times. Bowers followed by going 4-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Flores went 3-for-6 with two runs scored.

The top five hitters in the Tiers' lineup that consisted of J. Alvarez, Flores, I. Alvarez, Bardowell and Bowers went a combined 14-for-27 (.519) with nine RBI and 12 runs scored.

Butler (2-0) went seven strong and fanned seven batters, while Townley tossed 1.2 innings of shutout baseball.