The
Indians won Saturday night 7-4 in 11 innings over
the Yuba Sutter Gold Sox in one of the more thrilling
games of the season. Indians starter Cody Smith
pitched well, giving up 1 hit in 6 innings and
leaving with a 3-1 lead.
The
Indians backed him with 3 runs in the 4th inning
with a Tyrese McDaniel RBI double and Will Campbell
RBI single. Chase Leavitt drew a bases loaded
walk to give the Tribe a 3-1 advantage. Smith
was relieved by TJ Statsny who gave up 2 runs
in his one inning of relief on a Kristian Sifuentes
RBI single and a Travis Bernard double. Sifuentes
tried to score on Bernard's double but was gunned
down at the plate by CF Will Campbell's relay
throw to C Zane Chavez.
The
score was tied at 3-3 going into the top of the
8th inning which the Indians were unable to put
any runs across. In the bottom of the 8th inning,
reliever Steve Martlaro replaced Statsny and got
two outs with a runner on second base. With DH
Matt Kavanaugh batting with two strikes Martlaro
placed a perfect offspeed pitch right on the inside
corner for strike 3, however home plate umpire
saw it differently. Martlaro's night was finished
and Scott Nickason summoned big righthander Josh
Walter who had not given up a run in his previous
outings.
Walter's
second pitch, a low 90's fastball scooted past
C Zane Chavez to move both runners into scoring
position. Walter decided to intentionally walk
Doug Thennis to face LF Tony Hines. Hines hit
a 2-strike pitch to left center that LF Tyrese
McDaniel cut off and fired into the cutoff man
SS Cory Morales. Morales fired a perfect strike
to C Zane Chavez to nail Kavanugh.
The
Gold Sox headed into the top of the ninth with
a 4-3 lead but the Tribe rallied back, which began
with a Chase Leavitt leadoff double off the right
field wall. With one out, SS Cory Morales struck
out but the ball got by the catcher who's attempt
to throw him out at first hit Morales in the back,
putting runners on first and second. C Zane Chavez
came up to hit a single to load the bases. With
2 outs, LF Tyrese McDaniel came up to the plate
with the game on the line. McDaniel, who struck
out looking to end the game the night before,
worked a 3-2 count before the pitcher's offering
sailed high for a walk bringing in the tying run.
With
the score tied at 4-4 Walter worked the 9th and
10th and held the Gold Sox scoreless heading into
the top of the 11th. Leading off the top of the
11th was the man who started the 9th inning rally,
RF Chase Leavitt who singled to right field to
get things started. He was moved to second on
a picture perfect bunt by 2B Evan Wells. With
SS Cory Morales batting Leavitt took off for 3rd,
stealing the bag and when C Jonny Navarro's throw
sailed high, Leavitt raced around third for the
eventual game winner. Morales and Chavez added
back to back singles and Morales scored on a bases
loaded walk by Will Campbell. With the bases loaded,
DH Ben Caple took a fastball to the left shoulder
to bring home the 7th run for the Indians.
Holden
Sprague worked a perfect 11th for the save and
the Indians came from behind for a thrilling victory
which saw manager Scott Nickason and DH Jeff Farnham
ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the 10th
inning.
The
Indians play the rubber match of the series Sunday
night at 7, and their record stands at 30-14
The
Santa Maria Indians were shut out by the Yuba
Sutter Gold Sox Friday night 5-0 at All Seasons
RV Stadium in Marysville, about 30 miles north
of Sacramento.
The
Gold Sox starting pitcher Grayson Adams (University
of Arizona) threw a complete game, 3 hit shutout.
The righty threw an array of fastball/splitters
to stirke out 10 Indians. The Indians only managed
3 hits off the right hander who will be headed
to play in the Pac-10 after spending last season
at CSU Monterey Bay.
Indians
2B Evan Wells had 2 of the three hits, going 2-4
with 2 singles. SS Cory Morales had the other
hit, a single in the 4th. The Indians had several
well hit balls off Adams, but they managed to
find the gloves of the Gold Sox outfielders all
night long.
Indians
starter Diego Soto took the loss for the Tribe,
throwing 5 effective innings of shutout ball giving
up only 3 hits until he ran into trouble in the
6th inning. The Gold Sox first three hitters in
the 6th recorded singles before Soto hit a batter,
ending his night and leaving with a 1-0 lead.
Soto
was relieved by fellow Cochise College lefty Cody
Walden who inherited a bases loaded jam and quickly
induced a 6-4-3 double play, with Gold Sox 1B
Doug Thennis scoring for a 2-0 lead. Walden got
the 9 hitter to ground out to SS Cory Morales
to end the inning. In the 7th the Gold Sox managed
two runs for a 4-0 lead and tacked on one more
in the 8th.
Soto
took the loss for the Indians, who are now 29-14
overall. They face the Gold Sox Saturday night
and Sunday night for 7:00 night games.
