QUINCY--Host Feather River built an early 6-0 lead and then held on for dear life for an eventual 8-6 victory in game one of the Super Regional series between the No. 4 seed Golden Eagles and No. 5 Skyline College.
FRC moves into the driver's seat in the best-of-three series, needing just one more win to claim the series and move on to the CCCAA Northern California finals. The Golden Eagles improved to 35-9 on the season and the Trojans are now 32-9. Game two is scheduled for Saturday in Quincy at 1 pm, with Sunday's rubber match (if needed) to begin at 1 pm.
But as the home team is well aware, with this game as a testament, it's never over until it's over.
On a beautiful warm day in front of a large home crowd, Feather River scored in four of the first five innings to claim a 6-0 lead.
In the first inning, singles by Cory McIntyre and Cooper Kitrel set the table for Ryan Blanchard's ground ball RBI. In the second inning, Garret Damico bunted home Eric Romero, who had led off the inning with a walk, to make the score 2-0.
FRC did most of their damage in the fourth inning, chasing Skyline starter Rowen Barnes. Daniel Pruitt led off the inning with a stand-up triple, and Kitrel brought him home with a single. Blanchard would follow a few batters later with a two-run base knock down the third baseline, and the hosts were now up 5-0.
In the fifth, three walks brought home another run to put FRC up by a half-dozen runs. And with Golden Eagle starting pitcher Dylan Cabral cruising, all looked golden for Golden Valley Conference champs.
But Cabral, who had given up just three hits through five innings, walked the first two batters of the sixth. The lefthander departed the game and the Trojans went to work. Four hits and five runs later, Skyline was now just a run back at 6-5.
FRC reliever Kyle Giovannoni got the last out of the sixth and set the Trojans down in order in the seventh. The Golden Eagles then added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning, which it turns out they would need when Jerry Thomas laced a two-run single to light up the scoreboard at 8-5.
Giovannoni recorded the first two outs of the eighth (with a double sandwiched inbetween), and FRC closer Jake Christianson then entered to induce a pop up to close out the inning.
In the ninth, Skyline made one last attempt to keep the contest alive. A three-base throwing error by Christianson, followed by a passed ball brought home a run. The next Skyline batter got on via an error but was thrown out trying to stretch it into two bases. A base hit brought the trying run to the plate for the Trojans, but a good old fashioned 6-4-3 double play ended the contest and gave Christianson his eighth save of the season.
Cabral's solid work gave him the victory, improving his record to 7-3 on the year. Barnes suffered just his third loss of the season against nine wins. Blanchard had three RBI to lead the offense, while McIntrye, Pruitt, Kitrel and Jake Madson had two hits each.
For tomorrow's game, Feather River will be the visiting team on the scoreboard, but of course will still enjoy the home field advantage where a beautiful 80-degree day is forecasted for Saturday.
"We've learned that winning the first game is important, but we are far from the finish line," said FRC head coach Terry Baumgartner, whose team also won the first game last week but dropped the second against Cosumnes River. "We are happy to be playing at home and look forward to another great game tomorrow."
