Baseball: Leaves Bases Loaded in Ninth in Nail-biter Loss

Huntington Beach, Calif. - The first two games of the series saw both Golden West College and Irvine Valley College win at home in walk-off fashion but Saturday afternoon ended that streak. Golden West would leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to lose 7-6 in the final game of the series against Irvine Valley. 

IVC took advantage of a lead off double to start the game and eventually score with two outs to take a 1-0 lead after the first frame. Starting pitcher Micah Wallette was relieved of his pitching duties for the Rustlers after hitting a couple of Lasers and surrendering a two RBI single after 1.1 innings pitched and three runs scored. The Golden West offense responded with patience in the bottom of the second inning as IVC's starting pitcher could not find the strike zone and walked four batters while giving up two runs. The Rustler offense got things going again in the bottom of the fourth inning as Austin Schell led off with a double and then eventually scored a couple batters later when Jeremiah Vison smacked an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3. Nelson Padilla would plate an RBI on an infield ground ball to put the Ruslter's ahead 4-3. 

IVC was able to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning after the leadoff man singled, advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, and scored on a RBI single by Zach Stack. IVC proceeded to take the lead 6-4 in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of sacrifice flys to left and right field. The Rustler's however showed some power in the middle of the lineup and used three doubles in a row from Padilla, Nick Dayton, and Anthony Marquez to tie the ball game at 6-6. The final blow of the game came in the top of the eighth off the IVC bat of Ben McConnell as he belted a solo homerun to left field for the go ahead and eventual game winning run. 

NEXT: Golden West will host Orange Coast College on Tuesday March 20th at 2pm.