City College head coach Jeff Walker likened it to death by a thousand lashings. Four unearned runs scored off of three errors added to the excruciation.
The SoCal No. 10 Vaqueros (15-11, 8-5) dropped a series opener for the third time out of five in conference play, losing 7-3 to Moorpark College at Pershing Park on Wednesday, March 30.
“It’s just very unfortunate that it looked like we were sleepwalking through the first couple innings and then got spooked,” Walker said. “Pretty much they beat us in every facet of the game today, on our own field, that was disappointing as well.”
Moorpark College scored in each of the first three innings, opening a 4-0 lead by working walks, bunting runners over and manufacturing their runs the “old school” way. The Raiders chased City College starter Charlie Adamson after 1.2 innings, giving way to reliever Aiden Garza.
“It’s tough as a pitcher facing that because they get a hit, bunt a guy over and then he scores on a single and that’s just good execution and baseball fundamentals,” Garza said.
Garza would finish with 6.1 innings pitched and allowed 7 hits, 4 runs (two earned) and three walks on the day.
Hitting with runners in scoring position was an issue for the Vaqueros all afternoon, going 2-for-11 with opportunities to put runs on the board. They left the bases loaded in the second inning, and had a runner reach third just two times for the rest of the game.
“When the leadoff guy gets on the next guy can’t have a terrible at-bat, when we get runners on base we need to drive them in,” Walker said.
City College cut the Moorpark College lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Caiden Matheney led off with a single, then advanced to third on Pearce Blaney’s one-out knock and came home on a Hunter Call sacrifice fly.
The Raiders added two more runs in the top of the sixth and another in the top of the eighth to push the lead out to 7-1. City College scratched across a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth on a two-out, two-RBI single by designated hitter Tyler Imbach to finish the scoring.
“We get excited because it’s the ninth inning and we get guys that get in and compete because the game is sideways, it’s just that on the front end when it’s important we struggle with that,” Walker said.
Justin Deal left the game after being hit by a pitch on the hand during the bottom of the second inning. Ricardo Amavizca replaced him at second base and collected his first collegiate hit in the seventh inning.
“We can’t live in the past. Our hitters work hard and our pitchers work hard, they know they have to pick us up and they’re going to do it,” Garza said.
City College bounced back to take a 4-3 win in game two of the series at Moorpark College on Thursday. The rubber match will be at Pershing Park on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.
