Baseball: 5-Run Sixth Dooms Rustlers

Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Golden West College baseball team took on Santa Ana College in game one of a must win three game series to stay in the fight for playoffs. The Dons of Santa Ana used a five run sixth inning offensive explosion to earn a 6-2 victory at Hoover field. 

The Rustler's starting pitcher Troy Bethel was able to pitch around a couple jams all day until the top of the sixth when the Santa Ana batters were able to string together five straight hits, all singles until the big three-homerun capped the five run inning. Up until the sixth inning, the Rustler's held the lead 2-1 and Bethel was able to induce two big double plays keep himself out of trouble. 

Golden West tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning on a RBI single by second basemen Trent Whitaker. The offense was able to plate another run in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead 2-1 on a fielder choice ground out to the short stop by Aidan Cacciatore, scoring Ryan Carpenter. The offense had another shot in the seventh to cut into as they loaded the bases when Josue Lopez led off the inning with a singled, two outs later, Cacciatore doubled to right center field followed by a walk by Whitaker. It seemed as though everything was going right for the Rustler's, team leader in hits Jeremiah Vison came to the plate with the bases loaded and lined a laser to the right side of the infield. Only problem, the Dons second basemen had Vison played just right defensively and snagged the line drive to end the threat. 

The Rustler's would go 1-2-3 in the eighth inning and hitless in the ninth to lose 6-2.

NEXT: Golden West will travel to Santa Ana on Thursday, April 19th for game two of the series. First pitch at 2pm.