Baseball Foiled From SoCal Challenge Title By LA Valley

The Pasadena City College baseball team played its third home game at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field in three days on Saturday, but suffered a 12-3 loss to Los Angeles Valley as the Monarchs won the SoCal Challenge Tournament title.

The state #26-ranked Lancers (2-3 overall) fell into a 5-0 hole after two innings, but fought back with three runs in the fifth keyed by a RBI double by leftfielder Jacob Escamilla and a pinch-hit, run-scoring single by Diego Gurfein. 

LA Valley (3-2) scored four unearned runs in the seventh thanks to a pair of PCC infield errors and the Lancers offense failed to produce despite several on-base situations. They left 13 on base including stranding the bases loaded in both the second and fourth innings. 

Rightfielder Luke Bauer is on fire at the plate and added three hits to raise his batting average .632 (12-for-19) after five games. No other Lancer has more than six hits as the team batting average is a modest .244.

Losing starting pitcher AJ Flores had a down-then-up peformance as he allowed five runs on eight hits over the first two innings, then was dazzling in his last three innings, striking out six batters in his final three frames with just one hit and no runs allowed. He finished with nine strikeouts. 

On Friday, the Lancers scored seven runs over the first two innings and then hung on to defeat LA Mission, 8-6. Escamilla had a big day, reaching base all four at-bats, and delivering a 2-run bomb double to center in the first and then a 2-RBI basehit to center in the second. Bauer was 2-for-4. 

After southpaw starter Alex Valencia left after 4.2 innings, the PCC relief staff put together mostly a solid combined performance. Winning reliever Alex Myers (1.1 innings), Landon Encheff (2 no-hit innings), and closer Sergio Robles (one inning for the save) all kept the Eagles bats scoreless.

On Thursday in the tourney opener, PCC starter Jonathan Bracamonte was outstanding, allowing just four hits over six shutout innings, but he left tied at 0-0. Opponent LA Pierce broke through with two runs in the seventh and six more in the ninth to cap an 8-0 blanking of the Lancers. The pitching duo of Brayden Briscoe (seven IP) and Allen Olmos limited PCC to just two singles, one by Bauer in the fourth and the other by second baseman Joey Ramos in the ninth. 

In fact, the Lancers were retired in order (1-2-3) in six different innings. Pierce was paced by Christian Santiago three RBI and a 3-run homer from Isaiah Chaves. 

On Tuesday, Feb. 3, PCC continues its 7-game homestand with a 2 p.m. non-conference game v. Victor Valley. 

Bracamonte fires a pitch on Thursday

Ramos tags out a runner v. Pierce