Eagle Baseball Team gets on a Winning Streak against Shasta
The Eagle baseball team got things going with a pair of home field victories over rival Shasta last week, 7-5 on Thursday and 4-1 on Saturday.
After hearing a suggestion that "it must feel great to get those two wins," Eagles baseball head coach Tevin Cadola said, "You have no idea… It felt like an eternity."
It had been nearly a month since their last win, in late March at Redwoods, during a crazy season often interrupted by weather that left their field covered in snow for weeks.
So, yes, it felt great to get on a winning streak going into the final four games, all at home against Redwoods this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Last Thursday's win ended Shasta's hopes of getting into the postseason.
Saturday's win was the Eagles' 10th of the season, one more than they had last year.
Cadola said it "started with the pitching, and the pitching rubbed off on the hitting, and the hitting spread, and pretty soon we were playing like a complete team. Two consistent games in a row."
Pitcher Geoffrey Allen shut out the Knights for the first 5 innings Thursday while the offense built a 5-0 lead with single runs in the first, second, and fourth innings and two runs in the third.
Dewitt Nunery reached on an error to bring home Ryelen Samson with the first run, and Kadin Bolanos doubled to drive in William Dante Bravo in the second.
Nunery singled in the third to score Taiyo Kurosawa, then Nunery scored on a sacrifice fly by Bravo.
Bolanos bashed his team-leading fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning for a 5-0 lead.
Shasta scored twice in both the sixth and seventh, but the Eagles answered with single runs in the bottom of both frames. Aidan Hermansen scored on a sacrifice fly by Dylann Battye in the sixth. Devyn Engdahl scored on a balk in the seventh.
Allen gave up just 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs while striking out in 6 in 6 2/3 innings. Kameron Saucedo got the final out in the seventh, Juanluis pitched a scoreless eighth, and Carson Jones got the save after allowing a run in the ninth.
The Eagles out-hit the Knights 9-5, and though the defense had 4 errors, they also turned a double play involving second baseman Kurosawa and catcher Nathaniel Cook.
Carson Jones returned to the mound to pitch 6 scoreless innings Saturday. He gave up 5 hits, walked 2, struck out 6, and left with the Eagles leading 4-0.
Callan Vreim earned the save after allowing an unearned run on 3 hits and 3 walks in 3 innings with 2 strikeouts.
A double play from third baseman Blake Boyes to Bravo at first ended Shasta's bases-loaded threat in the seventh.
Boyes had 3 of the Eagles' 7 hits and drove in Nunery with the second run in a 3-run fourth-inning rally.
Samson, who ranks 6th in the GVC with 12 stolen bases, scored the first run after he doubled, advanced to third, then took off for home on a ground ball to third by Nunery. Samson beat the catcher's tag with a headfirst slide in a cloud of dust.
Catcher Connor Jones then scored on a bases-loaded fielder's choice grounder by Bolanos, and Bolanos singled in the sixth to drive in Boyes and grow the lead to 4-0.
"It's so simple when you pitch and throw strikes and hit the ball hard in play," said Cadola. "We've been preaching it all season. It feels good to see the guys click."
Cadola said the first inning had often been the Eagles' kryptonite this season, putting them in an early hole. They turned that around the last two games, thanks to the strong starting pitching performances by Allen and Carson Jones.
It helped to have better weather and it helped to be playing at home, but Cadola stressed that "we can't look too far ahead or behind."
They're scheduled to finish the season with four home games against Redwoods, a single game Wednesday at 2:45, a doubleheader Thursday starting at 11 a.m., and a single game Friday starting at 11 a.m.
By Steve Gerace
