SHORT-HANDED BEAVERS TAKE THEIR LUMPS ON SATURDAY
SHORT-HANDED BEAVERS TAKE THEIR LUMPS ON SATURDAY
One day after opening the season with a victory over West Valley College, the 2022 American River College baseball team took a beating early losing 11-2 to the Vikings on Saturday. The Beavers were without several key players Saturday due to some minor injuries and some Covid protocols. At game time they only had 9 healthy/eligible players and 5 pitchers, two of whom also were playing positions. Freshman Connor Timmins (East Nicolaus) got his first collegiate start and it began well, as he struck out the first batter that he faced. He ended up giving a run in the first but he was not able to get out of the 2nd inning as West Valley scored three times with 2 outs to chase Timmins. LHP Hunter Cabral (Portola) came in with the bases loaded and got the final out of the 2nd. Sophomore RF Josiah Taylor (Alpha Charter) led off the game for the Beavers with a single and would later score on a sac fly by sophomore 3B/P Blake Yuyama (Kennedy), but that would be the Beavers only hit until the 7th inning.
After Cabral got out of the 2nd inning jam he was only able to record one out in the 3rd, allowing 4 runs, just one was earned, as West Valley jumped out to an 8-1 lead. Sophomore RHP Nick Rosemont (Inderkum) cleaned up the 3rd for Cabral and threw a scoreless 4th inning Yuyama, who was supposed to start the game on the mound came in to throw 4 innings, striking out 5 including all three that he faced in the 6th. Freshman LHP Josh Heinkel (Inderkum) threw a scoreless 9th inning. The Beavers second run came in the 7th when freshman 2B Nick Ochoa (Segerstrom) led off the inning with a double and later scored on a groundout by CF Wyatt Winalski (San Juan) for his first career RBI.
American River and West Valley will conclude their three game series on Tuesday at Mission College in Santa Clara at 2:00 p.m.