In the midst of a historic season, the Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team is suddenly on the ropes.
In the midst of a historic season, the Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team is suddenly on the ropes.
The top-seeded Bear Cubs will be playing with their season on the line in a decisive Game 3 of the California Community College Athletic Association’s Northern California regional finals after an uncharacteristic 15-9 loss to Sierra College in Saturday’s Game 2 of the best-of-three series.
The 15 runs are the most the top-seeded Bear Cubs (44-2) have allowed all season, and the loss ends a 24-game winning streak.
The Bear Cubs took Game 1 by a score of 7-5 on Friday against the fifth-seeded Wolverines (32-14) but were not at their best in Game 2.
After battling through a high-scoring first five innings, Sierra took its first lead of the game with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, opening up a 12-9 lead. An inning later, Brady Ranallo delivered the knockout punch, a three-run home run with two outs to push Sierra’s lead to six.
It was Ranallo’s second home run and fifth hit of the day. He carried the Wolverines offensively, finishing 5-for-5 with the two bombs, a double and nine RBIs.
“I knew they were a good team,” SRJC head coach Damon Neidlinger said. “When we played them in the middle of the year, I had a pretty good idea that we’d end up doing this right here.”
The Bear Cubs’ bats were hot to start but couldn’t keep up. They were held scoreless over the final five innings and got just one runner to scoring position in the final three. They stranded the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth innings and left 12 runners on base for the game.
Just like in Friday’s Game 1, the Bear Cubs opened the game with four runs in the first. Sierra answered right away with a pair of two-run home runs, the second from Ranallo to tie the game 4-4.
The Bear Cubs went back ahead 7-4 in the top of the second inning thanks to an RBI double from JT Summers and a two-run double from Josh Martin, but Sierra answered again with an RBI double from Nathan Erickson and a two-run single from Ranallo.
The Bear Cubs then plated solo runs in the top of the third on an error and in the fourth on a solo home run from Shane Moran to go back ahead 9-7, but again, Sierra answered. Ranallo made it 9-8 on an RBI single and then Cowen Meyer scored from third as Ranallo stole second to tie it at 9-9 after four.
Both teams put up zeroes in the fifth inning before Sierra took the lead in the sixth. The Wolverines sent nine batters to the plate in the frame. Ranallo put them ahead 10-9 with a one-out RBI double, Meyer scored on a wild pitch and Jake Redding brought home Ranallo with a sac fly to make it 12-9.
Ranallo then capped his huge day in the seventh, launching a two-out, two-strike blast out over the wall in left center.
The Bear Cubs went down in order in the eighth and ninth innings to finish things off.
“Today’s game, we would have had to swing the bat way better than that,” Neidlinger said. “We scored in the first half of the game and didn’t in the second half.”
The Bear Cubs used five pitchers in Game 2 after using four in their Game 1 win.
That actually is a bright spot for SRJC. Jordan Giacomini and Luke Schat, both University of Nevada-Reno commits and two of the state’s top pitchers this year, are available to throw in Game 3. Giacomini was not at the field on Saturday with an illness but Neidlinger is confident he’ll be able to throw on Sunday.
First pitch is scheduled for noon at SRJC. A win sends the Bear Cubs to the CCCAA state championship for the first time since they won it all in 2016. A loss brings an end to the season for the top-ranked team in the state, short of their ultimate goal.
“Tomorrow, it’s us or them,” Neidlinger said. “It’s really that simple.”
You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
