Baseball Grinds to Fourth-Straight Win, Defeats Grossmont

Photo by Bobby R. Hester
Photo by Bobby R. Hester

On a crisp Wednesday night at Evans Sports Complex, the Riverside City College baseball team played host to the Grossmont College Griffins in non-conference action. The Tigers got off to a strong start behind a four spot in the first inning, but a relentless Grossmont offense continued to chip away to keep the score close. Nevertheless, Riverside stuck to their approach leading to an 8-4 victory.

The Tigers got off to a strong start as they batted through the lineup en route to four runs. They loaded the bases twice and capitalized off of an error on the Griffins shortstop, leading to three runs. Sophomore center fielder Junior Coleman notched the lone hit in the inning as he set an inside-out double down the right field line. He later scored in the inning along with sophomore designated hitter Kase Warner and sophomore right fielder Ulises Caballero. Freshman third baseman Mathew Ivancich capped the rally by drawing a bases-loaded walk, thus sending home freshman second baseman Dylan Morace.

Despite the Tigers jumping out to a sizable lead, Grossmont tied up the score after plating two runs in the third and fourth innings. Nevertheless, Riverside responded with a two spot in the bottom of the fourth inning. Warner kicked off the inning with a base knock and promptly swiped second base to put himself in scoring position. He later came around to score on a double to the left-center gap by Caballero.  Caballero later came around to score on a pass ball to regain the lead at 6-4.

From then on, the Tiger pitching took control and locked up Grossmont's offense. Freshman southpaw Drew D'Ambra settled in after a rocky two frames and retired six-straight in the fifth and sixth innings. He recorded four strikeouts in the process.

Freshman reliever Ethan Sachs and sophomore reliever Alexander Salazar followed suit by locking down the following 2.2 inning combining for five strikeouts and not allowing a single hit leading to an 8-4 win.

Sophomore left fielder Joseph Hodapp paced the offense by going 2-for-4 with a runs scored, while Warner and Caballero barreled a hit each and each scored twice.

Riverside (4-2) will continue action on the road Thursday, February 7 against the East Los Angeles College Huskies at 2 p.m.