CUTTEN -- Two Eureka Falcons' pitchers dominated, a quartet of its hitters provided power, and the visitors committed four errors. The result was an 8-1 Eureka victory over the Red Bluff Bulls in a Bobby Goss tournament semifinal game on Sunday.
The Eureka win, its fifth without a loss in the tourney, advanced the Falcons to the championship game against Oroville Post 95.
The Falcons' Mike Wilson got into a good rhythm and pitched a quality game, scattering four hits and allowing one unearned run in six innings of work. Ryan Stearns relieved in the seventh and got the game's final out via a strikeout.
”I was pleased with the pitching,” said Falcons' manager Dale Del Grande. “Obviously your defense starts with your pitching.”
Red Bluff's only run came in the third inning.
Trevor Gipson led off with a single to center, Garret Sinclair followed with a bunt single, and Andy Moreno sacrificed both runners to second and third. Andrew Lish grounded to Falcons' first baseman Justin Hatch, who first froze Gipson off third and then fired to catcher Jordan Davis when the Bull broke for home. Davis blocked the plate and tagged out Gipson, who injured his ankle on the slide and had to
While Wilson was retiring the Bulls, four of his Falcon teammates helped their team score two in both the second and third innings, and four more in the fourth.
David Del Grande and Davis each had three hits, while Chris Gutierrez and Stearns each contributed a pair. The quartet combined for seven RBIs, six runs scored and all of Eureka's 10 hits, six being of the extra-base variety.
Stearns blasted a two-run homer to dead center in the second and a RBI-double in the third, while Gutierrez whacked a pair of RBI-doubles in the second and fourth innings.
Davis led off the second with a triple and scored the Falcons first run, while Del Grande contributed a first-inning double, both of their hits smacked over the right-fielder's head.
Three of the four Bulls' errors proved costly, leading to Falcons' runs.
A poorly-timed pickoff throw to first in the second inning allowed Hatch to advance to third, where he subsequently scored on another wild infield throw.
In the fourth, with two outs and none on, both the first and second basemen called for a pop-up to the right side, but when they collided, the ball fell to the ground. So, instead of the third out and the inning over, the next three Falcons delivered RBI-hits to bust open the ballgame.
E. J. Stanton started and took the L for the Bulls, while Jeff Evans and Daniel Zelwick threw in relief.
”You can coach your a** off, but you can't play defense for them,” said Red Bluff coach Jim Bonomini.
Defensive gems were turned in the Bulls' Moreno -- who leaped up and over the Falcon's dugout fence to grab a foul pop-up by Andrew Ayers -- and the Falcons' Davis -- who returned the favor by making a running over-the-shoulder catch near the backstop on Moreno's foul pop.
Historical note: This is the final season that Oroville's legendary manager Joe Hottinger will be skipper, as the 76-year-old coach is calling it quits after many years of guiding young men playing American Legion baseball.
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