Baseball Above .500 After Win Over West LA

The Pasadena City College baseball team is using solid pitching and defense to keep opponents down and there was more of that on Tuesday when the Lancers defeated West Los Angeles, 4-2, to end a 7-game homestand at their off-campus home--Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field. 

The Lancers went above the .500 mark at 5-4 and closed the home stretch of contests at 4-3, but winning three of their last four games. 

Against WLAC, PCC scored three runs in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Rightfielder Isaac Ton walked and reached third on a failed pickoff error and he was knocked in by a RBI groundout from catcher Joaquin Salcedo. With two outs, leftfielder Jacob Escamilla drew a hit-by-pitch and first baseman Ricky Gonzalez singled to left with both runners advancing an extra base.

Now with runners on second and third, second baseman Joey Ramos hit a ball up the middle that WLAC shortstop Gustav Early was able to make the play to keep it from going into centerfield. That scored Escamilla and then Gonzales was alertly sent home by the third base coach as Ramos got a rare 2-RBI infield hit. 

The Lancers pitching staff did the rest as starter Sergio Robles (no decision, 5.2 innings, scattered eight hits, one run and no walks), winning reliever Alex Myers (1.1 no-hit innings), Landon Encheff (one scoreless frame for the hold), and AJ Flores (one inning, one unearned run, two strikeouts for the save) combined to limit the Wildcats' offense. 

Centerfielder Xiovany Ochoa batted 2-for-3 while designated hitter Luke Bauer delivered a RBI single in the third for the game's first run. 

The Lancers now go on the road Thursday, Feb. 12 to face state #11-ranked Riverside City before coming back to Brookside to face Citrus for a 12 noon Valentine's Day contest on Saturday.