Gilroy
– By the time this week is over, the Gavilan baseball team will
have played seven games in nine days.
But the Rams would rather have the busy schedule than more bad
weather.
Gilroy – By the time this week is over, the Gavilan baseball team will have played seven games in nine days.
But the Rams would rather have the busy schedule than more bad weather.
The Rams fell 8-2 to Mission College Thursday but clinched a key Coast Conference League win Wednesday with a 10-4 victory over San Jose City College, a game finally made up from March 19.
“It was good to take the first win of the series, especially with the rain and all the stuff we’ve been through,” said Gavilan head coach Neal Andrade after Thursday’s loss. The Rams will play the Jaguars twice more this season.
The Rams are 4-5 in conference and 9-10 overall – though they flirted with their first .500 record this late in the season in years after the win over San Jose City. Gavilan has had to deal not only with canceled games, but also with injuries in the last week. Rams first baseman Manuel Gonzalez sat out against Mission with a sore knee and may be out for the rest of the week. In the same game, second baseman Joel Lopez left in the top of the seventh inning with a dislocated thumb on his glove hand. Still, Andrade is happy to see his squad competing.
“Overall, the guys are working hard,” Andrade said. “They’re competing and we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year.”
In Wednesday’s win, pitcher Brent Mardesich improved to 4-1 by going 7 1/3 innings and allowing just three runs.
“I felt good (against San Jose City College),” Mardesich said. “I was in the zone and just threw and let the defense do the work.”
The Gavilan offense did some work, too, scattering 13 hits. One of those hits was shortstop Blake Thygersen’s grand slam, the first of his Gavilan career.
Thygersen sent a high and outside fastball to left-center over the fence to extended the Rams’ lead from 3-1 to 7-1.
When asked if he knew it would be a grand slam when he made contact, Thygersen quickly shook his head.
“I just started running for two,” he said.
Third baseman Jason Baker (3 hits) and outfielder Danny Reyes (3 RBI) also contributed.
Thursday’s game against Mission didn’t go as well for Gavilan. The Rams were locked in a 1-1 stalemate in the top of the sixth when the Saints got aggressive at the plate and scored three runs on starting pitcher Eric Groner to take a 4-1 lead.
With no outs the bottom half of the inning, Gavilan loaded the bases with Johnathan Kirkish (walk), Adam Kubo (hit by pitch) and Brian Bueno (reached on error). But the Rams only managed to drive in Kirkish, on a groundout from Thygersen, and Mission got out of the inning still holding a 4-2 lead.
“We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities offensively,” Andrade said. “They ran the bases well and capitalized on our mistakes. If you’re aggressive on the bases, you can control the tempo.”
Which is exactly what the Saints did for the next three innings. Meanwhile, Gavilan couldn’t jump-start its offense. A few questionable calls from the plate umpire in Mission’s favor didn’t help either.
“I told the guys, you don’t have control over what (the umpires) do. Don’t worry about it,” Andrade said. “But I think it got in their heads.”
Lefty pitcher Scott Hayslip relieved Groner with two outs left in the seventh. He gave up one run and struck out three in 2 1/3 innings.
Mission 8, Gavilan 2
UP NEXT
at Skyline, San Bruno
Saturday, April 1 at noon
