Share: mail

The men’s baseball team kicked off the new season with a 14-2 win over West LA on Saturday.

Irma Carillo/Courier - PCC’s shortstop, Alex Briggs, makes a play at first givng them their first out during the first inning against West L.A College on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2015.
Irma Carillo/Courier – PCC’s shortstop, Alex Briggs, makes a play at first givng them their first out during the first inning against West L.A College on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2015.

The victory snapped a 3-game losing streak on opening day and marks the largest margin of victory during Pat McGee’s tenure as head coach.

For a program that has had its problems with offense in the past, the Lancers silenced those questions of concern with a solid statement.

“We took the game inning by inning,” said sophomore first baseman Joe Quire. “It’s never a good idea to get ahead of ourselves.”

With Pasadena logging in 19 hits in the contest, West LA was only capable of putting up four hits on the board.

The Wildcats’ struggle was due in large part to PCC’s right-handed pitcher Eddie Gutierrez, who pitched five innings of exile allowing just two runs.

Pasadena’s batting order showed up with an ample supply of run support.

“We have a very solid team in terms of hitting the ball,” said Gutierrez. “This will allow pitchers like myself to have a little breathing room.”

The pitchers who came in relief for Gutierrez held the fort and continued to fluster West LA by striking out a combined five batters while giving up no hits. Three of the five strikeouts came in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“I hit my spots and trusted what my coach called,” said relief pitcher Anthony Mizrahi. “I did what I had to do to get the job done.”

The Lancers came out swinging, which resulted in runs being scored in six consecutive innings.

The mayhem began in the second inning when PCC broke the scoreless stalemate as second baseman Paul Christian drove Jorge Manzo home on an RBI single with the bases loaded.

After allowing first baseman Joe Quire to get on base, West LA’s right-handed hurler Tomas Gutierrez struck out catcher Justin Cage and designated hitter Jeremy Conant for two quick outs in the top of the third inning.

Despite being in a good position to escape the inning, Gutierrez lost his composure, leading to his departure. He threw a wild pitch to advance Quire in scoring position.

Center fielder Brandon Benson and third baseman Jorge Manzo then proceeded to hit an RBI single and double respectively to extend the Lancers lead to three.

Thirteen of the 14 runs West LA’s pitching staff surrendered were earned runs.

The Wildcats’ defensive play mirrored their pitching as they committed two errors. The Lancers, on the other hand, had no blemishes throughout the game.

No Lancer had a bigger day than freshman Paul Christian, who went 5-for-6 with five RBI and three runs scored in his collegiate debut. Four of his hits were singles while his last hit of the afternoon was an RBI triple that brought in two runners.

PCC will continue their two-game road trip on Friday Feb. 5 as the team travels to San Diego City College to face the Knights.

The Knights are in search of their first win after losing back-to-back contests versus Saddleback to start the season.

The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.

Follow: rssyoutubeinstagrammail

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.