Ninth Straight Win Takes Extra Time for FRC

SUSANVILLE--Feather River College's ninth consecutive victory in its last regular season road game of the season took ten innings to put into the books before the Golden Eagles claimed a 7-6 win over Lassen Community College.

Eric Romero singled home the tying run in the ninth inning and the Golden Eagles scored two more in the tenth via a wild pitch and a hit batter to rally past the Cougars.

Feather River's triumph gives them a 32-7 overall record and a astounding 23-1 mark in the Golden Valley Conference. The Cougars are in third place in the GVC with a 16-8 league mark and a 26-13 record in 2022. The loss for LCC snapped their three-game winning streak.

The Golden Eagles had to rally from a 4-1 deficit in this contest that took nearly four hours to play between the No. 8 team in the state (FRC) and the No. 19 squad (Lassen). In the ninth, trailing 5-4, Cooper Kitrel hit an infield single and Jerry Thomas was then intentionally walked. Ryan Blanchard moved them both over with an excellent bunt. A batter later, Romero singled to left to bring home Kitrel to tie the contest.

After bringing in closer Jake Christianson a few innings early, he kept the Cougars off the board in the eighth and ninth, the Golden Eagles went back to work in the tenth. Garret Damico doubled to lead off the inning and Cory McIntyre followed with a single. After a wild pitch brought home one run, Lassen then elected to intentionally walk two batters to load the bases and set up a better double play situation, but the move backfired when Cooper Thacker was hit by a pitch to bring home the seventh run. 

FRC still had to withstand one last push from the Cougars. The home team had three hits and scored one run in the bottom half of the inning but Christianson was able to get the third out via a ground ball, stranding two LCC runners on base.

Christianson went 3.2 innings, one of five FRC pitchers to toe the rubber. He allowed just the one run, five hits, walked no one and struck out seven. McIntrye was a sizzling 5-of-6 at the plate with a pair of RBI. Thacker added to more of FRC's 13 total hits.

Both squad close out the regular season tomorrow (Thursday) in Quincy with a single game that begins at 3 pm. It will be Sophomore Day at The Nest.