Golden Eagles Fly Over Eagles in Home Opener, 11-3

QUINCY--Ryan Blanchard hit a home run and a double and Dylan Cabral pitched seven solid innings to highlight a festive home opener for Feather River College and their fans with a 11-3 win over the College of the Siskiyous on a sunny afternoon in Quincy. 

It was the third win in a row for FRC, improving their overall mark to 8-5 and more importantly, 1-0 in Golden Valley Conference play. College of the Siskiyous is now 6-7 overall and 0-1 in the GVC. Two more games are on tap on Saturday, with the doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon.

"We played a really good all-around game today," said head coach Terry Baumgarter. "We executed on the mound, played good defense, ran the bases really well and got some timely hits. It was fun for our guys to finally play at home."

169 fans enjoyed a day where the Golden Eagles were flawless in the field (no errors), pounded out 13 hits and held the Eagles to just five hits, three of them singles. FRC held a 7-1 lead through three innings before adding four runs in the seventh.

Blanchard hit a home run during a four-run seventh and singled home a run in the first. He finished with three hits, including a double and home run, two runs scored and three RBI. He was joined in the hit parade by Jerry Thomas (2-for-4, two runs scored), catcher Daniel Pruit (3-for-4, 2 RBI) and Nainoa Kane-Yates, who doubled home two runs and also hit a sacrifice fly (three RBI).

Meanwhile, Cabral was solid on the mound, allowing just three hits in seven innings of work. He gave up three runs and only one walk, and fanned six. Tyler Stolfi pitched the final two innings without giving up a hit and struck out four.

Feather River kept the pressure on all day with six stolen bases, including two each by Kane-Yates and Cory McIntyr. 

"It was a great start," Baumgartner added. "But tomorrow is another day with two big games to play against a very good team."