BEAVERS DROP FIRST TWO TO BUTTE

Thursday’s game against Butte College ended up being the first extra inning game of the season for the American River College Baseball team, but it didn’t end with a walk off.  It almost did in the 9^th inning but sophomore C Kristoff Swanson (Del Oro) was thrown out at the plate with two outs on a single by freshman SS Cole Talley (Skyridge UT).  The Beavers were up early in that game with a 2-0 lead in the after three thanks to three scoreless innings from sophomore starter Matt Kelly (Oak Hills) who was making his first appearance since opening day.  Butte tied the game in the 4^th then took the lead in the 5^th by scoring 4 times.  A.R.C. got a couple back but were trailing 10-4 in the bottom of the 7^th after Butte added four more unearned runs in the top of the 7^th.  A.R.C. chipped away at the lead in the bottom half, scoring three times thanks to five straight hits to lead off the inning.  The 9th inning had the most drama as the Beavers led off with a couple of hits followed by a pair of walks to drive in a run.  After a couple of bases loaded strikeouts sophomore Josiah Taylor (Alpha Charter) came up Kirk Gibson style, he has a pulled hamstring and cannot run, and laced a pinch hit single to right center to tie the game.  Swanson had to stop at second on the hit which allowed the Butte College CF to throw him out at the plate to send the game to extras.  Butte picked up three unearned runs in the 10^th which should have made for an easy end to the game but the Beavers came back and loaded the bases with one out.  After a strikeout, RF Michael Grijalva (Ponderosa) singled to left which made the score 13-11 and had the tying run at 2^nd, but CF Wyatt Winalski (San Juan) struck out to end the game.

On Friday ARC traveled to Oroville to play the Roadrunners on the road and once again the Beavers struck first with a run in the top of the first but Butte came right back off of sophomore RHP Tyler Quintanilla (Summit Shasta) and took a 3-1 lead.  Michael Grijalva got his first collegiate home run in the 4^th inning,  a solo blast to make the score 3-2.  But that was as close as the Beavers would get.  Butte tacked on 4 runs in the 5^th and then 5 in the 6^th before there was even an out to take a commanding lead.  A.R.C. made it a little interesting in the 9^th by scoring three and leaving the bases loaded before freshman LF Trevor Crockett (Del Campo) took a called third strike to end the game. 

The two teams finish the three game set on Saturday with a noon game time at Beaver Field.

Photo Credit: XTGMedia