On March 21 the Delta College baseball team won 13-2 against Sacramento City College in their last game of a three-day game series held at the Klein Family Field on the University of Pacific campus.
“It feels great. We started the year pretty slow. It feels good to have our offense back to where it needs to be,” said sophomore first base Blaine French.
In the first inning, the Mustangs quickly set the pace for the day’s game with sophomore infield Mateo Garcia drilling a hit down first base bringing in two runners, followed by sophomore catcher Joseph Barnhardt taking one for the team with a ground out hit to center field bringing in one more batter before the inning was over, making the score 3-0 Delta.
By the second inning, Sac City Panthers scored a run shaking the Mustangs offense up before getting their third out.
Infielder Garcia encouraged his teammates during these trivial moments so the team could stay focused.
“We try to stay focused… Keep everyone up and preach high energy at all times… I think it’s one of the biggest things that’s helped us this far,” said Garcia.
In the fourth inning, sophomore infielder Drew Giannini hit a single out to right field allowing two runners on base to score, tailed by freshman outfielder Dominic Rodriguez with a sacrifice pop fly to Sac City’s infield but leading to another player on base scoring. The inning concluded with a strong score of 6-1 Delta.
After a quick top of the fifth and one run scored by Sac City, the fifth inning became the most exhilarating.
The Mustangs were up to bat, ready to leave Sac City in the dust, Giannini came up to bat and landed a walk that led Garcia to score, freshman outfielder Park Romney to advance to second base, and freshman outfielder Braeden Schnabel on to third base.
Next up came Rodriguez with a strong single straight down center field allowing both Romney and Schnabel to score. Sophomore left-handed pitcher and outfielder Logan Drummond hit a hearty single, granting another runner to score, French advanced to second but Rodriguez lost out at third ending the inning with a score of 10-2 Delta.
“Our mindset is to go out there and compete every game. Whether we’re facing the top team or the bottom team,” said freshman right-handed pitcher Michael Banderas on how the team stays timid during high-scoring games.
Delta scored three more times in the final four innings of the game. Twice in the sixth inning by Barnhardt on a wild pitch, and a grounded out hit by Romney to Sac City’s shortstop allowed freshman middle infielder Jackson River to score, 12-2 Delta.
By the seventh inning, Garcia hit a solid single out to left field that brought in one runner. Leaving all bases loaded, the Mustangs looked to drag Sac City through the dirt some more, River came up to bat but fell short, ending the inning 13-2.
Head Coach Reed Peters felt good winning two out of the three-game series and is looking forward to improving as the Mustangs get closer to the championships.
“We kind of gave game one away, so it was good to see us respond and play the baseball we’re capable of playing… we’re getting near the end, so we have to get better every week,” said Peters. “We have a bunch of injuries… It’s a grind from here on out.”