No. 5 Tigers Hand No. 10 Rustlers First OEC Loss
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#10 Golden West | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
|
#5 Riverside | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 2 |
No. 5-ranked Riverside City College handed No. 10-ranked Golden West College its first Orange Empire Conference loss of the season in walk-off fashion Sunday afternoon. The Tigers beat the Rustlers 6-5 to even the series 1-1.
RCC improves to 15-6 overall and 3-2 in the OEC, while GWC drops to 15-7 on the year, 4-1 in conference.
Golden West held a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, but Riverside never panicked. Ian Nguyen (4-for-5) singled to center field with one out and got to sprinting as he got to second and third base on a wild pitch. He then came home on a passed ball to put the home team within one, 5-4.
The Tigers then tied the game in the bottom of the eighth as Dane Lujan sacrificed a fly ball to allow Alex Gamez (two walks) to tag up from third and even things up 5-5.
Jake Khasaempanth came in to pitch in the top of the ninth and drew a pop-up before striking out the next two batters to give RCC some momentum heading into the bottom half of the inning.
Bubba Heidler (1-for-5) led the inning off with a double to right field and advanced to third on a wild pitch to put the game-winning run just 90 feet away. With two strikes, Nguyen blasted a ground ball past a diving shortstop to send Heidler in for the game-winner.
The Tigers look to carry momentum from today's game into Monday's series finale as the Rustlers return to Evans Sports Complex for a 3:30 p.m. contest.