Tigers Dominate to Advance in Regional
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
San Diego Mesa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
|
#12 Riverside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | X | 8 | 10 | 1 |
It took four scoreless innings before No. 12-ranked Riverside City College finally broke through against San Diego Mesa College in the first game of the second round of the 3C2A SoCal Regional. The Tigers exploded for an 8-1 victory to advance to the next day of the double-elimination tournament without any danger.
RCC improves to 31-12 on the year, while Mesa ends its season at 24-19 after falling 7-6 to No. 7-ranked Palomar College Thursday afternoon.
Jorge Rodriguez pitched eight shutout innings with four strikeouts on the mound for the Tigers to grab the win.
After both teams were held scoreless for the first four and a half innings, Riverside broke through in the bottom of the fifth as Ian Nguyen (1-for-3) hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run, before Marc DiCarlo Jr. (1-for-2) knocked a two-RBI single, 3-0.
Bubba Heidler (1-for-4) added to the tally in the sixth after sending Malakai Lopez in to score, 4-0. In the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded and one out, Parker Sobiesiak (3-for-4) tagged up from third before DiCarlo came home on a Danny Inzunza (1-for-1) base hit, 6-0.
Looking to leave no doubt, RCC added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to all but put the game away. With bases loaded and no outs, Sobiesiak walked in a run before another sac fly – from DiCarlo – allowed Eddie Alfaro (1-for-4) to score, 8-0.
Mesa tried to make things interesting in the ninth and put two runners in scoring position with no outs and managed to plate one runner, but the Tigers locked down their defense to close out the 8-1 victory.
The Tigers take on the Comets Friday at noon to start a best-of-three series.