Golden Eagles Complete Sweep of Cougars
SUSANVILLE--Heroes come in different shapes and sizes, and in the case of the Feather River baseball team, there is often a different hero around every corner.
Seven different players had multi-hit games, four separate Golden Eagles hit home runs and eight FRC pitchers toed the rubber to all contribute to a pair of victories over Lassen College on Saturday afternoon in Susanville, 15-6 and 6-3.
Feather River used all the contributions to win its 16th game in their last 17 outings, including their last five in a row. They are now 21-6 overall and 12-1 in the Golden Valley Conference. They are 1.5 games in front of Butte College (11-3) in the GVC, and they pushed third-place Lassen further away at 15-11 overall and 6-6 in the GVC.
The Golden Eagles had 26 hits on the day and scored 21 runs in taking the important conference series. They won the opener of the three-game set on Friday in Quincy, 2-0.
In the 15-6 opener, Daniel Pruitt had two doubles, a home run and five RBI to pace a potent offensive attack. The catcher had a two-run double in the second inning to get FRC on the board first, and he would add a two-run jack in the seventh. Cory McIntyre also had three hits in the game, including a two-run triple and a solo home run for three RBI.
Cooper Thacker and Jake Madson had a pair of hits as well, Eric Romero had a two-run homer (9th inning) and Ryan Blanchard had three RBI in the contest.
All of that offense provided plenty of support for starting pitcher Bridger Holmes, who tossed the first 5.2 innings and allowed just three earned runs and fanned five. He earned the win to improve to 3-0 on the season. Four other FRC pitchers went to the mound to contribute to the win.
In the second game, three new offensive heroes emerged along with two different standout pitchers.
Jerry Thomas had three hits, including a double, and catcher Ryan Gray added two base knocks, also including a two-bagger. Still, the Golden Eagles needed Cooper Kitrel's first home run of the season in the eighth, a two-run shot, to give them insurance during the 6-3 win.
Three FRC pitchers combined to hold the Cougars to just four hits in the nine-inning contest. That included Dakota Todd, who was outstanding in middle relief. Todd went five full innings and gave up just one hit, didn't walk a batter and struck out four. He moved to 2-0 on the season.
Jake Christianson entered in the ninth inning for a 1-2-3 frame, earning his fifth save of the year. Christianson sports a 1.96 ERA and has fanned 27 batters in 18.1 innings of work.
The Golden Eagles look to continue their roll next weekend when they travel to the College of the Siskyous. The two teams will play a Friday (April 1) single game at 2 pm, followed by a Saturday single game at noon.