Nothing is coming easy for the Gavilan College baseball team,
which recently won its first game against top conference rival
Ohlone.
Nothing is coming easy for the Gavilan College baseball team, which recently won its first game against top conference rival Ohlone.
The Rams hit the ball well Tuesday in a seesaw battle game against visiting Monterey Peninsula College but still wound up with a 12-10 loss.
Gavilan (1-13, 1-5 conference) held a 10-8 lead late in the game before the Lobos rallied with four runs for the win.
“We gave up too many free passes,” said Gavilan coach Neal Andrade. “You got to throw strikes to win. Even if you cut out half of the walks, that’s three or four runs you take off the board. We were getting the hits and had our chances.”
Former Haybaler Nick Ramos, who was coming off an ankle injury, had a big game for MPC against his former coach. He went 1 for 3 with a couple walks, an RBI and three runs scored.
He was a part of most of the scoring in some way or the other. In the third inning, Ramos walked and scored from second on a double by Nate Saylor, despite slipping while rounding third base.
But he regained his balance and slid by the tag at home to tie the score at 2-2.
Gavilan got a run right back in the third inning after Gilroy High grad B.J. Collom was safe on an infield hit. The throw drew the first baseman off the bag. After a sacrifice bunt by Issak Rodriguez, Steve Gonzales went to right field to bring in Collom.
In the fifth inning, MPC tied the game on a bases-loaded walk and took a 4-3 lead after Ramos scored from third on a groundout that the Rams almost turned into a double play.
Ramos had a nice play deep in the hole at shortstop to get to a ball and throw a runner out late in the game.
“To me that showed he is back in form,” said MPC coach Daniel Phillips. “An injured Nick Ramos doesn’t make that play.”
MPC (6-10, 4-2 conference) scored a run in the sixth, but Gavilan came back in the bottom of the sixth to score four runs. Two runs scored on an error by the third baseman, and Collom blasted a two-run home run.
MPC took an 8-7 lead with three more runs in the seventh inning after a solo home run and a two-run home run.
But the Rams answered with three of their own in the seventh. The big hit was a bases-loaded single by Live Oak grad Trevor Molyneaux to score two runs. Collom also singled to bring in a run.
Monterey got four runs across in the eighth after back-to-back singles by Jaydee DeMaria and Ramos. Although the Rams loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, they couldn’t score.
“We just didn’t keep the momentum on our side late in the game,” Andrade said.
The Rams got on the board first with two runs in the first inning. Gonzales singled to right field to score Rodriguez, who had advanced to second on an overthrow.
Josh Becknall moved Gonzales to third base with a hit to right. Gonzales caught the MPC defense sleeping when he decided to head for home after Becknall stole second.
“They have a lot of heart,” Phillips said. “They may not have a lot of the talent, but they are well coached. They have a good attitude and know how to play the game. They outplayed us all day, but we got a couple big hits at the right times.”
The Rams play at West Valley on Thursday and at Chabot on Saturday.
