The College of the Redwoods pitching staff faced struggles once again this weekend against Lassen College, with CR allowing 31 runs over two games, which were both Corsair losses.
Lassen picked up 18-8 and 13-6 victories on Saturday which dropped CR to 5-17 on the season after the Corsairs’ 10-23 campaign in 2024. CR is in last place in the Golden Valley Conference, owning a 2-11 GVC record.
Out of 88 junior college programs in California, College of the Redwoods currently has the third-highest earned run average, with the team ERA sitting at 10.17, allowing over one earned run per inning. The CR pitching staff has thrown 179.2 innings so far this year and has allowed 203 earned runs and an additional 36 unearned runs.
The CR offense hasn’t been lighting the world on fire either. Even though the Corsairs scored 14 runs in the two games on Saturday, they’re ranked No. 78 in the state with a team batting average of .245. The Corsairs have averaged 5.1 runs per game this season, which isn’t terribly low but when paired with a pitching staff that’s allowing runs at the rate that the CR pitchers are, you start to see why they’ve lost four of their last five games.
The Corsairs took a lead in the first inning of game one, with two former McKinleyville Panthers generating some offense, as freshman Tyson Bragg scored on a base hit by freshman Tenoch Tapia to take a 1-0 lead. Lassen quickly took the lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first.
Lassen scored 3, 3, 8, 2, 0, 0, 2 in each inning before ending the game due to a mercy rule in the bottom of the seventh inning. Former Arcata Tiger, sophomore Miles Oliver got the start for CR and lasted two innings before getting pulled after allowing six runs. Another former McKinleyville Panther, freshman Evan Fraser, came in to relieve Oliver but he struggled to find the strike zone, walking six of the seven batters he faced before being pulled himself.
In total, CR allowed 10 hits, 11 walks and four hit by pitches in the loss. Bragg and sophomore Bode Joyner both finished with two hits in the game for CR, with Joyner adding a grand slam in the seventh inning that trimmed the Corsairs’ deficit to 16-8.
CR took the lead in the top of the first in game two, this time thanks to a two-run triple by sophomore Justin Powell, which brought in Tapia and sophomore Seth Grammer, but again the Corsairs trailed by the end of the inning as Lassen scored three runs in the bottom of the first.
The game got tied up in the second inning, with the Corsairs plating a run thanks to a Lassen error but following the CR run, Lassen scored nine straight times to take a 12-3 lead. College of the Redwoods score three times in the eighth inning, which was highlighted by another run-scoring triple for Powell and an RBI double for Joyner but again, the Lassen lead was insurmountable for the Corsairs as they took the 13-6 loss.
Freshman and former Fortuna Husky Drew Franklin got the start for CR and worked five innings but allowed nine runs in the process before the Corsair bullpen took over and allowed four runs over three innings.
CR will look for better success on Friday when they welcome Shasta into town for a doubleheader, with first pitch set for 11 a.m. at Bomber Field at Redwood Acres in Eureka.
Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.
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