Renegades Strike First with Wild 17-13 Win

FREMONT--If you watch Feather River College baseball long enough, you are going to see things that you have never seen before in a baseball game, it seems.

Today's game fit that bill as the Golden Eagles scored eight runs in the top of the first inning but still ended the day on the short end of a 17-13 final tally in the first game of the CCCAA Northern California finals at Ohlone College on Friday.

The host Renegades were the winners despite the rough start, using a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth and are now in the catbird seat heading into Saturday's 1 pm elimination contest for the Golden Eagles. Should FRC prevail tomorrow, a winner-take-all game is set for Sunday at noon. 

Ohlone, ranked No. 1 in the CCCAA, improved to 43-4 on the season while Feather River dipped to 36-10. The Renegades got the win by not blinking despite being down 8-0 before they even came to bat, in part by scoring seven runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. In the end, they still needed Jimmy Garcia's blast with two outs to break a 13-13 tie in the ninth.

In the game oddity department, the contest also featured a 25-minute delay after the home plate umpire was clocked by a foul ball and had to leave the game. The contest took four hours and 40 minutes to complete.

It all looked fantastic for Feather River fans in the first 40 minutes of the game. The Golden Eagles put eight runs on the board, using a two-run homer by Jerry Thomas, extra base hits from Cory McIntyre and Ryan Blanchard and a slew of walks and hit batters. FRC even left the bases loaded when the Renegades final did get the third out. Feather River did all of that damage against Ohlone starting pitcher Ethan Foley, who came into the contest with an 8-2 record.

But the state's top ranked team countered in a big way in the bottom half of the inning. Mykanthony Valdez hit a three-run blast off of FRC starting pitcher Dylan Cabral, chasing the Golden Eagle lefty before the inning was over. Two errors kept the inning going and chased across a total of seven runs, and like FRC, Ohlone also left three runners on base.

Kyle Giovannoni was solid in relief for the Golden Eagles, eventually putting a stop to the bleeding in the first while also keeping the Renegades off the board in the second. FRC got a run back in the third on Blanchard's RBI-double, but Ohlone's Takumi Maeno hit a two-run shot in the bottom of third to tie the game at 9-9.

Neither team scored in the fourth, which is when the game was delayed after the home plate umpire was hit. Feather River took the lead (10-9) in the fifth, but the Renegades scored twice each in the fifth and sixth to take a 13-10 margin. Bullpen pitching on both sides, which included Tzu-Chun Yen for Ohlone (3.1 IP/0 runs) and Drew Baumgartner (1.2 IP, one hit) for Feather River, put zeros on the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth innings.

With Ohlone ahead 13-10 in the ninth and just three outs from victory, Feather River does what it does best--never give up. McIntyre led off the inning with a double, and Cooper Kitrel switched places with him with a two-bagger. One batter later, on a 3-2 count, Blanchard hammered a shot deep over the leftfield fence to tie the game at 13-13 and extend the contest. Ohlone got the next two outs to send the contest into the bottom half of the ninth.

FRC closer Jake Christianson entered and fanned the first batter he faced. Ohlone's Jeter Ybarra then lifted a high fly ball to center field that FRC lost in the sun, putting the Renegade on second base. An intentional walk and a FRC error loaded the bases with one out. Christianson got a ground ball out at home plate to put two outs in the books, but Garcia ended the long day with a shot over the left field fence that brought all the Renegades out of the dugout in celebration. 

It was the first time this season that FRC scored 13 runs but still lost the game. In fact, the 13 runs are the fifth highest total for the Golden Eagles this season.

The two teams combined for 30 runs and 27 hits. The Golden Eagles sent eight pitchers to the mound and the Renegades had five. Both teams had three errors in the game.

McIntyre, Kitrel, Blanchard and Thacker had two hits each for FRC. Blanchard drove in four runs and Thomas had three RBI.