Feather River Strikes First, Take 7-4 Win over Hawks

QUINCY--Feather River built an early lead, watched Cosumnes River roar back and then closed the door late for a 7-4 Northern California CCCAA series opening playoff win on Friday afternoon at The Nest.

The Golden Eagles now have the all-important 1-0 lead in the best of three series against the Hawks, with Saturday's second game set to go at 11 am. Should Cosumnes River win that one, the rubber match will be played 30 minutes later.

"It's great to get that first win, but we still have lots of work to do," said FRC head coach Terry Baumgartner. 

FRC jumped out to a 5-0 lead but the Golden Eagles then had to hold off a Hawks rally that brought them within a run before finally putting the contest away behind closer Jake Christianson.

Feather River scored three runs in the first inning and added two more in the second stanza to take a 5-0 lead. Ryan Blanchard ripped a two-run triple in the first inning and Cory McIntyre had an RBI-double in the second as the Golden Eagles had five hits and five runs total against Hawks' ace TJ Czyz. The 6-foot-2 righthander came into the day with a 7-2 record and had fanned 111 batters in 79 innings of work.

Czyz settled in after that, putting zeros on the board over the next five innings. He retired 10 FRC batters in a row at one point and struck out six total. Meanwhile, FRC lefty Dylan Cabral was doing the same. He didn't give up a hit through five innings, although he worked his way out of trouble a few times because of walks and hit batters. 

The Hawks got their first two hits off of Cabral in the sixth inning and had runners on second and third with one out, but Cabral induced a strikeout and fly out to end the inning. In the eighth, Cosumnes River finally broke through. Harry Owen led off the inning with a double down the leftfield line, and Rudy Rodriguez singled to chase Cabral. Judah Morris followed with a double to bring home Owen with CRC's first run. Reliever Dakota Todd got the first out with a strikeout, but pinch hitter Nate Schwartz followed with a three-run shot over the leftfield fence to bring the Hawks within a run at 5-4.

Enter Christianson. The 6-foot-4 Feather River closer ended the inning with two strike outs with the last one a three-pitch strikeout, sending his teammates to the plate in the bottom of the eighth.

The Golden Eagles then gave Christianson some insurance. Jake Madson laced a two-run single to bring home Jerry Thomas (walk) and Blanchard (fielder's choice) to make it 7-4. That is usually more than enough cushion for Christianson.

The hard throwing righthander fanned the first Hawk he saw and the third, but a pair of errors would put CRC runners on first and second, bringing the tying run to the plate. Regardless, Christianson would send that potential hero down by way of the K, to end the threat and the game.

Christianson picked up his seventh save of the season, fanning five batters in 1.2 innings of work. Cabral picked up the win to move to 6-3 on the season, striking out eight batters through seven innings while allowing only four hits and two runs. Ryan Blanchard had three hits and Cooper Kitrel had two hits for the home team.

Feather River is now in the driver's seat position and will send Bridger Holmes (7-0) to the mound in game one on Saturday. 

The No. 4 seed Golden Eagles improved to 33-8 on the season, while the No. 13 seed Hawks are now 21-17.