Golden Eagles Improve to 6-5 with win over Laney

OAKLAND--Feather River scored seven unanswered runs on Friday night under the lights in Oakland, turning a 4-2 deficit into a 9-4 win over Laney College.

The Golden Eagles improved to 6-5 with the non-conference victory, while Laney fell to 4-7. Feather River wraps up their final preseason trip before conference play starts next weekend with a Saturday contest at the College of San Mateo. Start time is noon.

FRC had just seven hits on the day but they made them count. Combined with five stolen baes and excellent middle relief pitching from Preston Brook, the Golden Eagles were able to move back over the .500 mark after dropping a 11-9 slugfest with Cabrillo earlier in the day.

Brook picked up his first win of the year on the hill, spinning four nearly perfect innings. He gave up just one hit, walked three and fanned seven. Brook entered the game in the fifth inning, after his team had just scratched across a pair of runs to tie the contest at 4-4.

Earlier, the Golden Eagles got on the board in the second inning via an RBI-double by Ryan Blanchard and a run scoring single off the bat of Abiel Gonzalez. But the Laney Eagles also scored twice in the second, and once each in the third and fourth to take a 4-2 lead.

A Cooper Thacker double helped tie the game in the fifth (4-4), and the score stayed that way until the seventh. FRC started to pull away after another Gonzalez RBI knock, this time a two-run double. Cooper Kitrel also added his second sacrifice fly of the game to help seal the deal.

Feather River added one more run in the ninth when Jerry Thomas stole home, his second theft of the contest. 

Laney had just six hits on the day, two of them (including a double) by Maximilian Lopez.

The Golden Eagles were led by Blanchard's two hits, two runs and an RBI, and Gonzalez's two hits, three RBI and a double.