Gimenez picks up Gavilan’s first win to put end to 12-game slide
with 5-4 victory
GILROY – Freshman left-hander Todd Gimenez pitched a complete eight-strikeout game to lead the Gavilan College baseball team to a 5-4 win Saturday over Ohlone – the Rams’ first win of the season.
“Traditionally they are always a powerhouse and are a perennial playoff team,” said first-year head coach Neal Andrade, whose team is 1-12 overall and 1-4 in conference. “It is a big step for our team and the program to beat a quality team like that.”
In the second inning, sophomore first baseman Rocco Castanza, of Gilroy, led off with a double, and Live Oak grad Josh Becknall knocked him home for the Rams’ first run.
After Ohlone got three runs in the third inning, Gavilan tied the game in its half of the inning. Freshman Eric Crane led off with a single and freshman Brian Collum, a Gilroy High alum, had an RBI triple. Collum scored on an RBI groundout by Isaac Rodriguez.
In the sixth inning, Mike Free had an RBI groundout to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. And in the seventh, Collum singled to start the inning and was sacrificed to second by Rodriguez. Becknall, who was 2-for-4, came up with another clutch RBI hit.
Gimenez, of Gilroy, gave up a lead-off home run in the seventh inning, but got the next three batters out.
“We’ve had four or five games we’ve played in this year like this that didn’t go our way,” Andrade said. “We know we are good enough to win some games. The first one is always the toughest.”
The Rams were coming off of a 9-5 loss at San Francisco City on Thursday. Rodriguez (1-for-4 ) and Costanza (1-for-3) both had doubles. Collum had a pair of RBIs, and freshman John Kirkish went 2-for-4.
Gavilan will play against visiting Monterey Peninsula College Tuesday at 2 p.m.
