TVCC opens Gentry Ford Classic with a pair of wins
By Argus observer sports staff
Sunday, March 16, 2008 4:56 AM PDT
| |
| TVCC’s Jay C. Shepherd tries to beat the ball to the bag during the Chukars 5-1 loss to Malaspina Friday. The Chukars rebounded from their opening loss with a 10-4 win over the Centralia Trailblazers. |
Ontario - On the opening day of the Gentry Ford Baseball Classic the Treasure Valley Community College drew Malaspina as its first opponent and lost the game 5-1.
Malaspina broke the ice in the home half of opening frame with a run scored and the game remained 1-0 through the first three innings of play.
In the top of the fourth, the Chukars plated a pair of runs. Josh Kalalau reached base with a single and was moved to second on a single by Cameron Edman. TVCC catcher Dan Welch picked up an RBI with a single, which was followed by a sacrafice fly to centerfield by Wade Elliot to give TVCC a 2-1 lead.
The lead did not last long. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Malaspina answered with two runs to retake the lead 3-2. Back-to-back errors put two runners on for the Mariners.
Malaspina added two more runs in the eighth inning to secure the win.
TVCC collected eight hits in the loss and committed one error.
Malaspina was good for seven hits and the Mariners committed two errors.
In the Chukars second game of the day, they hosted Centralia and came away with a 10-4 win.
The Centralia Trailblazers opened the game with three runs in the top of the first inning.
TVCC answered with a run in the home half of the inning when Jon Keller reached safely with a double, and was driven in by Edman’s double.
Starting pitcher Michael Hobgood retired the side in the second with a ground out and a flyout to the shortstop, and a strikeout.
TVCC stranded a runner in the bottom of the second and the score remained 3-1.
The Trailblazers added to its total in the third inning with another run when Hobgood gave up a triple and a run-scoring single.
The score remained 4-1 through the fifth inning, but then in the home half of the sixth, the Chukars got something going.
Leadoff hitter Michael Tevlin drew a base on balls, and later scored on a single hit by Jon Rohde, but the production ended with the bases loaded on a ground out to short, and TVCC trailing 4-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Chukars took flight, pounding out four hits for eight runs on four Trailblazer errors and TVCC had its first lead of the game, 10-4.
Centralia sent nine batters to the dish over the final two innings of play but could not push any more runs across the plate.
