Baseball: Rustlers strike first, unable to defend lead

Huntington Beach, Calif. - The Rustlers (12-7, 0-2) are off to a rough start in Orange Empire Conference play as they fell to Fullerton 6-1 on Thursday. 

Golden West opened the game offensively with a double hit by their leadoff man Jonah Sebring, who would go on to steal third base. Following a walk issued to Zech Samayoa, shortstop Steven Casas got an RBI fielder's choice. This ended up being the only run the Rustlers would score the remainder of the contest. 

"They just took a lot of really immature at-bats," Head Coach Andrew Ramos said. "They executed well over there at Fullerton. They cross counted and changed speeds while we did a really poor job adjusting, but it's baseball and that happens." 

As for pitching, the coaching staff held their left-handed Thursday guy Brett Wozniak to high praise, after staying consistent, if not better throughout his outing. 

"Woz[niak] was really, really good today," Ramos said. "His stat line will read poorly – it's going to end up being six earned runs over 8 2-3 innings, but we felt he got stronger as the game went on. In that last inning he was still 88 - 90 mph."

His outing came to an end in the ninth inning after a decision was made to intentionally walk the leadoff hitter who saw two balls from the lefty, and then he went on to throw four straight balls to the next batter. 

Out from the bullpen came freshman Andrew Stanley to hold the Hornets to a 3-1 lead. Stanley gave up a 3 RBI triple to the first batter he faced, allowing the Hornets to open the lead 6-1, and ultimately securing the win for Fullerton. 

"We decided to go to Stanley and bring his slider into play," Ramos said. "He threw two good ones and then on the 0-2 one, he just let it hang."

With this loss, the Rustlers have yet to find their first conference win of the season. On the bright side, they have an opportunity to grind one out on Saturday: the same day the Rustlers will be honoring former Coach, Roberto (Bert) Villareal, in a pregame ceremony. 

"They are going to have to show up," Ramos said. "There are going to be a lot of people here: a lot of alumni, a lot of guys that are proud to have worn this jersey who are excited to watch us play, so we are going to have to show up and perform." 

Interview with Coach Ramos

Written By Marissa Lavezzari

NEXT: The Rustlers and Hornets will head back to Hoover Field for the last game of the series on Saturday at Noon. All are invited to attend the pregame jersey retirement ceremony which will start at 11:30 a.m.