The Lancers fought hard, but ran out of gas in the later innings against the Roadrunners of Rio Hondo, as they fell 9-4 on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
“They’re a good team, and well coached,” said PCC head coach Pat McGee about Rio Hondo. “They take advantage of every mistake.”
After three scoreless innings to begin the game, Rio Hondo got on the board first with four consecutive two-out singles in the top half of the fourth to give them a 2-0 advantage. PCC answered back with a run in their half of the inning. Freshman Joe Quire crushed a double to right-center to lead things off, and sophomore designated hitter John Sevilla moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt before freshman outfielder Anthony Rabito pushed him across with a groundout to shortstop.
Freshman starting pitcher Isaac Holguin walked the leadoff hitter to begin the fifth inning, at which point McGee had seen enough. He pulled the right hander after just 4+ innings of work, and roughly 55 pitches.
“I let the inning they scored get to me,” said Holguin. “I need to be better at that.”
Freshman reliever Nick Esparza allowed two runs before retiring the side, giving Rio Hondo a 4-1 lead.
PCC was retired in order in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, sophomore centerfielder PJ DeZotell made a dazzling catch, diving head first on a line drive to shallow center. Esparza made the next out himself with a nice catch of his own, hauling in a screaming comebacker. He then struck the next batter out looking.
The Lancers kept the momentum going with back to back singles in the bottom of the sixth. Quire was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sevilla stepped up and punched a high fastball into the right center field gap, scoring two and cutting the Roadrunner lead to just one.
“I was looking for a pitch that I could drive,” said Sevilla. “At least score one with a fly ball.”
Rabito scored Sevilla on a groundout to short, knotting things up at four runs apiece.
However, the Lancers were unable to maintain focus. Esparza hit the first two batters he faced in the top of the seventh. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners over, McGee brought in freshman reliever Brennan Martinez. Martinez gave up a two-run single, and was taken out for another freshman reliever, Eddie Gutierrez. Gutierrez was able to retire the side, but the damage was done. Rio Hondo would end up holding onto the lead, and tacking on a couple more runs to wrap up the 9-4 final.
PCC looks to get back on track on track against LA Valley College on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game will be played at the University of La Verne.
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