Chaffey records another win over Mt. San Jacinto

AREA COLLEGE BASEBALL

Chaffey College’s PJ Torrez Jr., second from right, jumps for joy after hitting a home run off Mt. San Jacinto College pitcher Evan Stratton in an IEAC game on Thursday. TERRY PIERSON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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By Derryl Trujillo

Correspondent

SAN JACINTO >> Although his team won Tuesday’s game against Mt. San Jacinto College in walk-off fashion, Chaffey College baseball coach Andrew Smith was not thrilled with an offense that left eight runners on base.

Thursday afternoon, the Panthers scored seven runs between the third and fourth innings to grab control early. Chaffey then staved off a late challenge and posted an 8-5 win over MSJC to remain atop the IEAC standings.

“We didn’t swing the bats particularly well Tuesday, so I was really happy to see the guys get some success early,” Smith said. “Pierce Sailer threw really well against us in relief and really kept them in it where things could’ve easily gotten away, and that’s what you get with a quality program like MSJC.”

Both sides squandered scoring opportunities early, but Chaffey (21-9, 15-2 in IEAC) broke through in the third inning. Ryder Young and Jacob Billings had back-to-back singles and eventually scored on an error. Javier Mendez Jr. added an RBI single before MSJC’s Evan Stratton got a pair of flyouts to end that inning.

MSJC (22-7, 13-3) got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Juni Rodriguez.

Seven of the 13 runs in Thursday’s game were scored in the fourth inning.

Chaffey’s Yahir Ramirez doubled home a run and later scored on a double by Young. Torrez capped the inning with a two-run home run, giving starting pitcher Joseph O’Regan an even bigger cushion.

“Joe mixes pitches really well, and as a pitch caller what I love is that I don’t have to be fastball dominant with him,” Smith said. “He doesn’t throw like a freshman.”

MSJC responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Josh McAninch led things off with a single and scored on a balk. Christian Smith’s two-run double later in the inning cut the deficit to 7-4. Smith singled home another run in the seventh inning, but the Eagles squandered an opportunity to add more runs after Chaffey reliever James Rivera used a groundout and strikeout to strand a pair of runners and end that threat.

In the top of the ninth, Young belted Chaffey’s second home run to give the Panthers another insurance run.

Chaffey’s Damian Hernandez got a six-out save, allowing just one hit to Tanner Aoki in the bottom of the ninth.

“We came out hot offensively and were able to really take control early in this game,” Young said. “But we know there’s still a lot of baseball left and anything can happen.”

O’Regan got the win for Chaffey, going six innings while yielding four runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and only one walk. Young and Smith were their respective team’s leading hitters, both going 3 for 5 with three RBIs.

Chaffey will try to complete the sweep when it hosts the Eagles today at 1 p.m.