It was a pretty grand way to wrap up the non-conference part of the Feather River baseball schedule.
The Golden Eagles defeated College of San Mateo 5-3 and then swamped Laney 17-9 thanks in part to Jared Stevenson's grand slam and eight-RBI game. Feather River now heads into next weekend's Golden Valley Conference opener against Lassen with a 9-3 record.
FEATHER RIVER 5, SAN MATEO 3
Kyle Giovannoni pitched 5.2 innings of two-hit ball and Will Page-Allen tossed 1.2 stanzas of perfect baseball to lead the Golden Eagles to a win to begin their Friday.
Four Golden Eagle pitchers combined to hold San Mateo to just four hits. Giovannoni allowed one walk and struck out seven, and Page-Allen didn't allow a hit and fanned two.
Offensively, Reed Alexander drove home a run in the top of the first inning and Dylan Marx added a two-run RBI in the seventh to give the visitors a 4-0 lead. San Mateo's Will Bowen then hit a three-run shot in the bottom half of the seventh to cut the lead to 4-3.
But that would all SMC could muster with Page-Allen in the game. FRC added offensive insurance in the top of the ninth on Kaito Araki's single.
Jared Stevenson started his career day with a pair of hits, including a double. Alexander also had two hits and an RBI and Marx finished with two base knocks and two RBI.
FEATHER RIVER 17, LANEY 9
The second game on Friday looked a lot like the first to begin with--a tight pitching duel that might be decided by a run or two.
That's not how it turned out at all.
After three scoreless innings, Feather River exploded for 17 runs over the final six innings of the contest for a wild 17-9 win. Jared Stevenson drove in eight runs, via two sacrifice flies, a two-run double and a grand slam to cap his big number day.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the top of the fourth, the Golden Eagles put up three runs to take a 3-2 margin. And that was just the start. The fifth inning brought home three more runs and in the sixth one more plate crossing. FRC then really broke out with four runs in the seventh and six in the eighth, overcoming Laney's own big eighth stanza with five runs.
On the mound, six pitchers toed the rubber for Feather River with Weston Russell pitching the middle half of the game (4.2 innings) to get the win. Russell gave up just two runs and fanned seven.
Dylan Marx, Kaito Araki and Kolt Kurzman would have been the offensive heroes any other day with multi-hit games (Kurzman had three hits), but Stevenson stole the show. By the time the day was done, the sophomore outfielder had four hits, four runs, two doubles and a grand slam. On the young season, Stevenson now has 14 RBI and nine doubles, and that was his first home run of the season.
GVC play gets underway next Friday when Feather River travels to Lassen for a single game at 2 pm. Saturday is FRC's home opener, hosting Lassen in a twinbill that starts at noon.
