photo by Mike Daly
REDDING, Calif. – Shasta College's baseball team lost the Golden Valley Conference opening series to Feather River College this weekend, avoiding the sweep with a three-run bottom of the ninth to win 8-7 in the series finale Saturday.
The Knights fell 5-0 to Golden Eagles, NorCal's 11th-ranked the CCCBCA preseason poll, on Friday and lost the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 7-4.
Jakob Weiser led Shasta with four hits across the three games while Easton Waterman scored three times and drove in three runs in the series.
Feather River 5, Shasta 0
Shasta starting pitcher Anthony Becerra held Feather River in check for most of his time on the mound until he loaded the bases in the eighth. Sam Torsey relieved him, giving up a three-run triple to Austin Youngblood to fall behind 4-0.
Becerra took the loss. He struck out five, walked three and allowed four earned runs on four hits in 7.1 innings. Weiser accounted for two of the Knights' four hits.
Feather River 7, Shasta 4
The Knights led 4-1 through the third inning thanks to Waterman's three-run double and Payton Edwards' RBI double. But a four-run fifth inning from the Golden Eagles gave them the lead for good.
Shasta starter Sam Wells struck out one, walked three and allowed five earned runs on seven hits in five innings to take the loss. Waterman was 2 for 4 with a double, Edwards was 1 for 3 with a double and Weiser walked twice and scored a run.
Shasta 8, Feather River 7
The Knights gave up three runs in the seventh but got them back to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. Waterman reached on a two-out error, allowing Jerred Bloom and Alex Pynes to score. Weiser followed with a single and Waterman scored the game-winning run when Brandon Anderson reached on an error from the Feather River shortstop.
Max Holtzclaw got the win in relief. He struck out one batter in one hitless inning, adding to his two hitless innings of relief from Friday. Shasta starter Kolby Button lasted six innings, giving up three earned runs on four hits to go with four strikeouts and two walks.
Waterman scored twice, Nolan Kenny, Marshell Struble and Daniel Duarte each recorded an RBI in the game.
Sierra 12, Shasta 6
On Tuesday, Shasta gave up eight runs on two outs in the top of the ninth to blow a 6-4 lead at home to Sierra College, NorCal's No. 15 team in the CCCBCA, in a nonconference game.
Wells took the loss, giving up four runs – two earned – on two hits in 0.2 innings. Holtzclaw was in line for the win, having given up one earned run on six hits in 4.1 innings of relief.
Austin Healy was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Hunter Rasica was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs, and Waterman drove in two runs.
Shasta hosts Yuba College Tuesday in a nonconference game before opening up a three-game series against College of the Siskiyous Friday.