On Feb 27, the Mustangs beat the American River Beavers at Billy Hebert Field in Stockton, with the final score being 16-6.
Offense was no problem for the Mustangs this game, and head Coach Bob Kittle says they have been good offensively all year.
“We have been relying on the offense all year. I thought we were actually pretty loose today offensively. We just have to keep winning. It’s the Big 8, so it’s a hard conference, and we finished No. 1 last year in conference, so we know teams are going to give us their best fight going forward,” Kittle said after the game
The first inning started pretty crazy for both teams’ starting pitchers.
No. 33 Matthew Goebel walked three straight batters and, as a result, was pulled from the game. When the reliever came in, he hit a batter and gave up a double.
In the first, American River scored five runs on only two hits.
This caused the third pitcher — No. 16 Brett Grady — to be put in, who had an amazing performance.
Grady got out of the first inning without giving up a run, got 10 straight outs for the Mustangs and pitched a total of five innings.
He says it was good to give his team much-needed stability
“I love coming in those moments when the game is tight and the team needs me. We can totally finish ARC off and go into next week with a lot of confidence going forward.”
The Beavers also had a very tough start, too, giving up seven runs to the Mustangs. They went through three different pitchers to get the first three outs as well.
The Mustangs scored a total of seven runs in the first, but from then on, the game was pretty slow, with no team scoring again until the sixth inning.
Delta had a late offensive boost with outfielders Sutter Moss, Joel Roberts and infielder Malachi Bosschart hitting solo home runs in the seventh inning.
Leadoff hitter No. 22 Sam Tillman started the game getting on base by getting hit, however, his second at bat was the most important.
Tillman doubled with the bases loaded and knocked in all three runs. He also drew a walk later in the game and made some good catches playing first base.
“It’s been a struggle at the plate for me recently this year but I felt good in that at bat with two strikes and was confident in my approach and it worked out great,” Tillman said “We really have been ripping all year so I think we just need to continue what were doing out there and we will win games for sure.”
Pitcher No. 7 Carter March was put in after Grady was taken out and pitched three innings, helping Delta close out the game.
Delta swept the series against the American River, winning 15-10 in the third game on Feb. 28.
The Mustangs move to 11-7 on the season, second in the Big 8 Conference to undefeated Santa Rosa.
Their next home series will be March 4-7 against Diablo Valley, the first game being at Billy Herbert Field and the last 2 being at the University of Pacific.
