The Bear Cubs faced off in a three-game series against the Folsom Lake Falcons to open Big 8 Conference play.
On Tuesday, Santa Rosa game one of the series. Jordan Giacomini got the start on the mound for the Bear Cubs and retired the side in the opening frame. Santa Rosa's offense could not produce any runs for the first two innings. The Falcons scored one run in the second inning and five runs in the third, taking a 6-0 lead. In the bottom half of the third, Alex Leopard hit a two-run home run, closing the deficit to four runs. Eli Yamanaka, who relieved Giacomini, threw a scoreless fourth inning before surrendering four runs in the fifth. After five innings, the Bear Cubs trailed 10-2. Russell Freedheim took over in the sixth inning and faced the minimum over two innings of work. From the sixth inning on, the Bear Cubs scored in every inning via a Tyler Nordyke RBI single in the sixth, a bases-loaded walk by Michael O'Daniel and an RBI fielder's choice by Quinn Medin in the seventh, an RBI single by Cameron Duran in the eighth, and a two-run single by Jake McCoy in the ninth. During Santa Rosa's scoring surge, Folsom added a critical eighth-inning insurance run. The Falcons took game one 11-8.
On Wednesday, The Bear Cubs traveled to Folsom for game two. Hekili Robello got the start Santa Rosa. After the Bear Cubs failed to score in the top half of the first inning, Folsom scored one run in the bottom half. Santa Rosa scored two runs in the second inning with an RBI by Keenan Morris and an RBI groundout by Tyler Nordyke. The Falcons immediately answered back with a five-run second inning, taking a 6-2 lead. The Bear Cubs got one run back in both the third via an RBI single by Mason Cox. Morris hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, cutting the deficit to 6-4, but Folsom added one run in the bottom half of the fourth, and another run in the fifth. After five innings, the Bear Cubs trailed 8-4. Santa Rosa responded with three runs in the sixth via solo home runs by Morris and Quinn Medin, and an RBI double by Jake McCoy, making the score 8-7 Folsom. In the bottom half of the inning, Luke Schat, who relieved Robello in the fifth, threw a shutdown frame. The Bear Cubs broke the game open in the seventh by putting up seven runs via a bases-loaded walk by Morris, an error by the third basemen, two wild pitches, a two-run triple by McCoy, and an RBI single by Cox. The Falcons scored one run in their half of the seventh, but Santa Rosa clung to a 14-9 lead. In the eighth, Morris tallied his fifth RBI of the game by driving in a huge insurance run on a double. Two runs by Folsom in the bottom half made the score 15-11. McCoy was on the mound for the Bear Cubs in the ninth, and made quick work of Folsom batters, securing a 15-11 Santa Rosa win.
Sunday's game was the rubber match of the three-game series at Cook Sypher Field. Unlike the previous two games, the offense was hard to come by in the opening innings. Tony Suarez got the start on the mound, throwing two scoreless innings. Brice Cox relieved Suarez in the top of the third and faced the minimum in his first two innings. Folsom pushed across three runs over the fifth and sixth innings, taking a 3-0 lead. A RBI double by Tyler Nordyke cut the deficit to 3-1. Jake McCoy relieved Cox with one runner on in the seventh. The Falcons added two runs in the seventh, but the Bear Cubs countered with a two-run home run by Zane Bennett and another RBI double by Nordyke. The Bear Cubs trailed 5-4 after eight innings. The Bear Cubs went into the bottom of the ninth down 6-4 after Folsom added an insurance run. With the tying run on first base and one out, Josh Martin towered a game-tying two-run home run. After a scoreless tenth inning, Collin Medeiros took over for McCoy and threw two scoreless innings. As the Bear Cub offense could not capitalize, the game went to the thirteenth inning. Russell Freedheim entered the game on the mound and induced a likely inning-ending double play groundball that was not properly fielded, scoring one run for Folsom. The Bear Cubs had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate but could not score, dropping the game and the series.
Next Up: Three-game series versus Fresno City College 3/5 Away, 3/7 & 3/8 Home.