In a season full of incredible highs, it’s hard to imagine a lower low than Sunday.
Santa Rosa Junior College’s baseball players lined the dugout fence, silently watching the celebration unfolding in front of them on their own infield.
In a season full of incredible highs, it’s hard to imagine a lower low than Sunday.
Amid the best season in program history, the Bear Cubs’ pursuit of one of the best seasons in state history came to a crushing end in a winner-take-all game in the California Community College Athletic Association’s Northern California finals.
A season-low four hits yielded a season-low one run for the Bear Cubs in a 3-1 season-ending loss to No. 5 Sierra at Cook Sypher Field on the SRJC campus.
After sweeping Sierra (33-14) in their three meetings in Big 8 play and winning Game 1 7-5 on Friday, the Bear Cubs (44-3) could not repeat that success in two elimination games this weekend.
“You’re disappointed,” SRJC head coach Damon Neidlinger said. “This team, off of what they’ve done, was set to go for a state championship and compete against the best. (Sierra) is one of the best. I knew two months ago that these guys would be here.”
The Bear Cubs allowed a season high in runs in Saturday’s 15-9 Game 2 loss to set up the all-or-nothing Sunday game for a spot in the CCCAA state championships series.
In a season where everything seemed to go their way, nothing did in what was a disappointing final chapter to their historic season.
Sierra pitcher Anthony Martinez had a career game to lead the Wolverines into the state championship series. In just his sixth start of the season, the sophomore righty — who entered Sunday with a 5.40 earned run average with 32 walks in 45 innings — fired a complete game with five strikeouts and three walks.
It was the first outing of his career where he pitched more than six innings.
“They deserved to win,” Neidlinger said of Sierra, which advances to the state championship series along with NorCal No. 2 seed West Valley. “They got 10 hits, we got four hits, probably our lowest total of the whole year. I tip my cap to the young guy that pitched. He was very good, and that’s basically what it comes down to.”
The Bear Cubs’ usually potent offense was nowhere to be found. They had just nine base runners in the game, left six on base — including four in scoring position — and scored their only run on an infield single from Tyler Nordyke in the second.
Sierra opened the game with back-to-back doubles to jump out to a quick 1-0 lead. The scored stood 1-1 until the fifth inning, when Brady Ranallo, Sierra’s Game 2 hero, made it 2-1 with a deep sacrifice fly in foul territory.
Then, in the eighth, Jake Redding launched a solo home run with two strikes to make it 3-1.
The Bear Cubs got two runners on base in each of the eighth and ninth innings but couldn’t capitalize on either chance, ending both scoring opportunities with a flyout.
The Bear Cubs’ top pitchers, Jordan Giacomini and Luke Schat, did their best to limit the Wolverines. Giacomini, who was battling an illness Saturday, went the first two innings Sunday with two strikeouts, four hits and a run.
Schat pitched the next 6⅔ innings, striking out six with two walks, six hits and two runs allowed. He exited with two outs in the top of the ninth to a standing ovation from the standing-room-only crowd that packed SRJC’s home field.
This weekend’s two losses were the first at home all season for SRJC.
As the capacity crowd quietly filed out of the stadium, the Bear Cubs gathered in right field for one final postgame scene. They shared hugs, faces red with emotion, many still trying to process that their chance at history had slipped away.
Despite the disappointing end, Neidlinger had nothing but positive things to say about his 2025 squad.
“I told them that I’ve been here a long time and I’ve always wanted to coach a team that showed up and put in the work to win every game,” he said. “The season they put together up till now was absolutely exactly that.
“Every step of the way, they responded to every challenge, everything that I threw at them they continued to respond the whole entire year,” he added. “As a coach, you can’t be any prouder than that because I’m not the easiest guy to play for. But I’m extremely proud of the way they responded to every day-in and day-out message I gave them to get better.”
You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.
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