TAFT--Visiting Feather River rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to win its 2024 season opener over Taft College on a sunny Friday afternoon near Bakersfield, 7-4.

The Golden Eagles broke open a 4-3 game with three improbable runs in the top of the eighth to capture the non-conference victory. The two teams will square off again on Saturday in a pair of games, with first pitch set for 10 am.

It was a tough start for FRC as they watched their hosts score in the first inning on a steal of home, and then add two more plate crossings in the second on Oodnal Rivera's two-run double.

But the Golden Eagles began chipping away. Andrew Lehmann drove home FRC's first run of the year in the third inning with a double, and Jared Stevenson hit into a fielders choice RBI in the fifth to cut the Taft lead to 3-2.

In the sixth, Shane Danley tied the contest with a sac fly to center field. Meanwhile Golden Eagle relief pitching kept the Cougars off the scoreboard to give their team plenty of time to manufacture runs.

Manufacture they did in the eighth. Feather River took advantage of three walks and two hit batters to bring three runners across and take a 7-3 lead. Those seven runs were consecutive after the 3-0 Taft start. 

FRC freshman Weston Russell made his collegiate debut in the ninth with a 7-4 lead and locked down his first save. The Minnesota native worked around an error by inducing two fly outs and a strikeout for the game ball.

Reliever Taisei Watanabe picked up the win with two innings of near perfect work in the fifth and sixth, allowing no hits with two walks and a strikeout. At the plate, the Golden Eagles had just four total hits, two of them by Dylan Marx. Marx also scored three times. Stevenson earned three free passes and had a pair of RBI. 

"It was a good way to start the year, for this young team to come from behind and win on the road," said head coach Terry Baumgartner. 

In addition to two more games against the Cougars tomorrow, FRC will play at Merced on Sunday at noon before returning to Quincy.