FRC Feels Thrill of Victory, Agony of Defeat in Same Day
QUINCY--The Feather River College baseball team felt the thrill of a walk-up off victory and the agony of their first conference loss of the season, all in the same afternoon.
Josh Davies drove home Tomoharu Hidaka in the bottom of the ninth in the first game for a 5-4 victory over Butte College in the first game, but the Roadrunners rallied back from a 7-3 deficit to win the nightcap, 11-7.
The latter was the first loss in Golden Valley Conference play for the Golden Eagles, who are now 16-1 in league play and 24-8 overall. The Dirty Birds did take the series (2-1) after Thursday's opening 20-3 victory.
In Saturday's first game FRC scored four times in the second inning to jump on top, using three hit batters and RBI singles by Davies and Walker DesRosier. But the Roadrunners battled back with single runs inn the fourth, sixth, seven and eighth to tie the contest, setting up the dramatics of the ninth.
After Kani Thomas shut down the visitors in the top of the inning, Hidaka led off the bottom half with a walk. Noah Carrington moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Davies singled to send Hidaka flying around third and sliding into home with the game winner.
Davies had two of FRC's six hits, all singles, with three RBI. DesRosier had three hits and two stolen bases. Jack Hanna pitched the first six innings and allowed just two earned runs on four hits and seven strikeouts. Thomas got the win.
Everything was going Feather River's way in the second game in the beginning. Isaiah Mezger cleared the loaded bases with a double in the third to give the home team a 4-2 lead, and Mezger singled home another run and eventually stole home in the fifth to give the home team a 7-3 lead.
But the Roadrunners stormed back with two in the sixth and two more in the eighth to tie the game, and they scored four runs on six hits in the top of the ninth to take a 11-7 lead. In the bottom half with two outs, Hidaka singled and Davies doubled to keep their chances alive, but a fly out ended the game.
Hidaka had two of FRC's eight hits in the game, as did Mezger who drove in four runs in the contest.
Up next for the Dirty Birds is a home Friday doubleheader against College of the Redwoods, starting at 11 am.