Los Medanos College baseball endured a hard loss against Fresno City College Friday, Feb. 2, which showcased a solid performance from both teams. Austin Cannedy pitched the majority of the game earning eight strikeouts against Fresno and allowed four hits for the entirety of the game to benefit the rest of his team.

The final score between the Mustangs and the Rams was 6-4, in which Fresno didn’t gain a true lead till the later innings. It wasn’t until the second inning, a Fresno player hit a double with runners at second and third and earned its  first run of the game. The Mustangs quickly responded a run earned by Vince Lontz when Jack Downing hit a single in the bottom of the third inning.

Cannedy skillfully earned his team another opportunity to score and Mustang Jose Vasquez took advantage of Riley Cleary’s single and gained the Mustangs their second run of the game and the lead. Momentum seemed to shift in the later innings when the Rams tied up the score 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning as a result of stealing bases to eventually earn a run.

In the sixth and seventh inning each team was successful limiting the runs of one another by staying vigilant when base steal attempts were made and catching any fly balls. In the last two innings was when the momentum shifted and the Rams managed to earn runs through tricky doubles and singles that the Mustangs narrowly missed.

To close out the ninth inning the Mustangs proceeded to finish strong, earning a couple runs along with the Rams to end the great game that unfortunately may have not completely been in the Mustang’s favor. LMC Head Coach Anthony D’Albora added, “ The seasons still early and there will be players moving around different positions.”  This competitive spectacle concluded with the Mustangs able to grow as a team from this experience and improve executing essential tasks prepare for games in the future. “ Our overall improvement was definitely our hitting, we struggled the first three games to getting base hits and staying out of the air.” James Biles said. which plays as a key role in gaining runs and eliminating the possibility of having a fly ball caught.

Execution can be honed either in the batting cages or in routine practice, but the application must be present in when competing against other teams in the conference.

Our Mustangs are beginning the Spring Training correcting any possible errors and confident in the overalls teams inevitable growth.

The season is still early so now would be most ideal to bring determining what would be best to improve on whether it is pitching, batting, and fielding. Which means having a perfect bullpen is key to making a swift adjustment mid-game to ensure the pitcher is resistant to any possible fatigue. Mustang Utility player Riley Cleary said, “ Being able to pick each other up and capitalize every moment is really good, and that’s what we did.”

Coming off of Fridays loss the Mustangs had a doubleheader Saturday against the Rams in which they were victorious which returned the teams momentum and will be ready to take on the College of the Redwoods at home Sunday Feb. 10.