American River College defeated rival Sierra College 7-1 at Beaver Field on Thursday to keep their playoff hopes alive and clinch the season series with the Wolverines.  A.R.C. got a strong performance from starting pitcher Tommy Balmain (Oakmont) who went 8 innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five, and allowing just one run in the first inning.  Sierra recorded three hits in the first two innings, then did not get another off of Balmain until the 8th inning.  The Beavers offense was led by sophomores Alex Gaskin (Jesuit) who was 3x4 and reached base all five times that he came to the plate, and Dalton deVries (Oakmont) who was 3x4 with two doubles and a triple on the day.  deVries also picked up a pair of RBI's on the day.  The Beavers took control of the game in the 6th inning after Gaskin reached on an error by the Sierra shortstop, sophomore LF Jimmy Lunardelli (Oakmont) and deVries hit back-to-back triples.  After a walk and a hit batter, catcher Bryan Babcock (Antelope) hit a grounder to short with the infield in.  Sierra's shortstop was able to knock the ball down but then threw wildly to the plate allowing deVries to score.  Sophomore SS Steve Mercado (Antelope) then hit a sac fly to left to score DH Colton Freeman (El Camino) to put the Beavers up 6-1.  The Beavers tacked on a run in the 7th when deVries doubled in Alex Gaskin for his second double of the game.

The two teams complete their 3 game series on Friday at 1:00 p.m. at Sierra College