The pitching duel last week between the Los Medanos College Mustangs and Merced Blue Devils began with starting pitcher Gabe Taylor throwing zeroes across the board matched by the Merced counterpart through the majority of the game.

But the Stangs offense woke up late in the game, giving the Mustangs their 10th victory of the season with a 4-0 shutout.

Sophomore utility player Taylor who saw his fifth start on Mar. 2 on the pitcher’s mound, was already having an all-star season on both sides of the baseball.

He has an ERA of 0.79, 24 strikeouts and also ranks first in the Bay Valley Division, both for runs batted in and stolen bases, so he certainly grabbed the attention of the scouts in attendance.

Taylor quickly ended the top of the first and got out of a jam in the second. The game had a back and forth pitching showdown feel to it early on. With little offense being displayed by wither team.

But that all changed for LMC in the seventh inning, when left fielder Deon White got on base with a single.

He got away with robbery, stealing second and later sprinting to third and ending at home plate, scoring on a wild pitch, making it 1-0 giving the Mustangs the first score of the game.

It looked like the game was over when the pitching continued to succeed, but the hunger of more runs was still present.

The bottom of the eighth saw Jonathan Allen with a leadoff double and ace Taylor getting a base hit, bringing Allen to third.  

Third baseman Antone Self picked up his ninth RBI of the season with a sacrifice bunt followed by shortstop Jason Ochoa’s first hit of the game with an RBI double.

Joining the ongoing offensive rally was second baseman Jonathan Pluth also collecting a run by sacrifice, making the game 4-0 at the end of the eighth.

Finishing strong just as he started, Taylor collected his fourth win of the season by pitching a seven strikeout’s complete game shutout, for the team’s tenth win of the year.

“We always display our great teamwork and we proved it again with this win over Merced,” said head coach Anthony D’Albora.

“After we made some batting adjustments later on in the game and Gabe’s pitching gem shows our hard work in this hard fought victory.”

The team now sits in second place in the Bay Valley division with a 10-5 record.  But with a game in hand, they will try to reclaim first place against Solano at home on Saturday, March 12.

For more information on LMC baseball visit http://www.losmedanos.edu/basketball/mens.asp