Los Medanos College’s baseball team struggled offensively Tuesday afternoon against Solano College as they batted just .200 with runners in scoring position, and dropped their conference opener 8-3 to the visiting Solano.
The Mustangs out-hit Solano 10-9, and LMC head coach Harmen Sidhu credited Falcons starting pitcher Mateo Santos for working out of jams, saying, “He made good pitches when runners were in scoring position.”
“Sometimes you gotta be clutch and today we weren’t clutch,” Sidhu added on his team struggling to score runners in scoring position. “We couldn’t get a hit in a big time moment.”
Along with difficulties hitting with runners in scoring position, LMC also committed three errors against Solano. All three errors gave the Falcons runs.
However, it was the Mustangs’ second error that killed their momentum after their three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. LMC looked as if they were going to turn a double play to get out of a jam in the top of the seventh, but the toss from shortstop Brandon Marion was mishandled by second baseman Casey Threats.
Two Falcons came around to score on a play where the Mustangs could’ve gotten out of the inning.
“We struggled a little bit defensively,” Sidhu said. “It kind of gave the momentum back to the other team.”
However, Sidhu said the defensive and pitching struggles tied into each other during the Tuesday afternoon contest. Of the eight runs LMC pitchers gave up, only four went in the stat book as earned runs.
“Our bullpen couldn’t throw strikes and keep us in the game. We kind of struggled a little bit on the mound,” Sidhu said.
LMC entered the bottom of the sixth inning trailing Solano 4-0. However, the offense put together a two-out rally that resulted in three runs being scored to cut the Falcon’s deficit to one. The Mustangs rally came to an abrupt end when Anthony Manuel was thrown out trying to get to third base.
“It was a little miscommunication,” Sidhu said. “It was just bad reads and we just got to get better.”
After the Mustang’s rally was put to an end, Solano scored three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to extend their lead to five. LMC’s offense went dormant as the Falcons recorded the final nine outs while surrendering just three hits.
LMC drops back-to-back games and starts conference play with a 0-1 record. They will finish this three-game set with Solano this week before battling in a three-game series against Mendocino College next week.
