Sloppy beginnings for the Pierce College baseball team have been the trend for the Brahmas these playoffs and in game one of the Super Regionals it was no different on Friday, May 9.
The Brahmas committed four errors including three in the third inning and the Oxnard Condors routed the Brahmas 9-1 in game one of the three-game series to take a 1-0 lead.
“You’re not going to win a lot of games when you commit as many errors as we did,” Brahmas head coach John Bushart said. “We have to be a lot better than we are, especially against a team like Oxnard.”
Oxnard picked up where they left off against the Brahmas, beating Pierce for the fifth straight time after getting another solid performance from ace right-hander Luke Eubank. Eubank went eight innings giving up only one run on four hits to go along with 11 strikeouts.
“Today I felt good,” Eubank said. “I was hitting my spots and the defense was helping me out. I also threw more change-ups today, but once again it came down to my defense.”
Eubank’s display was nearly unhittable for the Brahmas. His fastball was in command and his slider had the Brahmas baffled and off balance all game long. Oxnard head coach Jon Larson spoke highly of his pitcher’s performance
“He came out and did what he has done all season long for us,” Larson said. “I thought his fastball was lightning today.”
Pierce got off to a good start that began when Brahmas second baseman Quinn Conley hit a single into center in the first inning. In the second inning, Jeff Wright got hit by a pitch which brought up designated hitter Angel Cruz, who in his first at-bat of the playoffs hit a single into left field that gave the Brahmas a 1-0 lead.
That was the only thing that the Brahmas got all day from Oxnard. In the bottom of the second with the score tied at 1-1, Pierce third baseman Alex Sawelson misplayed a pop fly in the field that allowed the Condors to take a 2-1 lead.
During the bottom of the third inning things only got worse for Pierce, who surrendered five runs – four of which were unearned. After a missed groundball by Sawelson, who committed two of the Brahmas four errors on the day, with the bases loaded Wright dropped a fly ball in left field. That allowed two runs to score and by the end of the third, the game was well out of reach.
“We came out lazy today,” Brahmas outfielder Dylan Tashjian said. “We got to come out with more intensity and jump on them from the get go. We can’t wait until the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to decide we want to come play.”
