“Jeez.”
The only word Pierce College shortstop David Whetstone could use to describe Tuesday’s victory over West Los Angeles College was, simply, “Jeez.”
Whetstone was instrumental in taking down the Wildcats, reaching base five times, scoring four runs and hitting a grand slam as part of an 11-run fourth inning. With Shepard Stadium just up the hill from Joe Kelley Field, the Brahmas prevailed by a football score, 17-10.
“The offense did their job,” said head coach Joe Arnold. “I was mostly impressed with their plate discipline. That’s something we’ve been really stressing a lot is taking good swings at good pitches. We did a great job with that.”
The Brahmas began innocently enough, striking first for a modest two runs aided by two wild pitches and an RBI double by first baseman Josh Reece, and later in the third on a bases-loaded walk to Whetstone.
With a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, the Brahmas’ bats erupted. Victimizing three different Wildcat pitchers, 14 men came to the plate, 11 reaching base and all 11 coming home. Whetstone capped the frame with a towering grand slam over the left field fence giving Pierce a 14-0 cushion to work with.
“[My approach was to] drive the ball into the outfield, try and score the runners with at least a [sacrifice] fly and keep it out of the infield,” he said. “[Pitcher Zach Tucker] gave me one right over the plate so I just took it.”
Not to be lost in the ensuing offensive display, Pierce starter Carlos Gonzalez turned in five scoreless innings, striking out four and not allowing a single base-runner past second base.
“[Gonzalez] was outstanding, another quality outing,” said Arnold. “If we kept him in there, he probably would have kept putting up zeroes, but with a 14-run lead, he got his five innings, qualified for the win. It was just a good time to see some other arms.”
Sophomore J.R. Bromberg was the first name to be called in Gonzalez’s relief, who promptly gave up five runs without recording a single out.
Next came John Degerman, who proved ineffective as well as he too failed to record an out while allowing two more men to score.
Ricardo Valenzuela was not the answer either. Two runs would score on his watch and the elusive first out of the inning would remain at large.
“The guys that came in and didn’t pitch well, I think it’s frustrating because I expect more out of them,” said Arnold of his bullpen’s subpar performance. “They’re better than that.
“Bromberg and Degerman were two guys we thought highly of, but maybe with a 14-run lead, they didn’t come in with the same focus but it doesn’t matter. You play the same game and repeat the same processes regardless of what the score is.”
The nine-run inning drew the Wildcats within five runs of what was once thought to be an insurmountable Brahma lead, but Gonzalez did not appear to be concerned that his masterpiece would go for naught.
“I was a little shaken but I knew we could get it done,” he said. “There was no way we were going to blow a 14-run lead. I’ve got confidence in this staff so I was just waiting to get it done.”
All Whetstone could think was “When is this inning over?”
But in the shuffle of arms, Arnold found the Brahmas’ savior in sophomore J.P. O’Leary, who turned in a nearly spotless four innings of work, allowing a lone run in the ninth inning of a marathon victory.
“I saw everybody out there just throwing balls, not staying with what we’re supposed to go out there and do,” said O’Leary. “I just went out there and threw strikes and let my defense work.”
“I call O’Leary ‘the cooler’ because that guy just comes into innings and shuts them down,” said Arnold. “We had already used three guys before that so it was important for J.P. to extend. We didn’t want to use another pitcher.
“We kind of wanted to see [Matt Nesbit] in the game, but at the same time, we had already burned three guys earlier. We’ve got two more games this week.”
By the numbers
Tuesday’s game featured a number of statistical oddities.
Combined, the two teams scored 27 runs on 27 hits.
Each of the Wildcats’ 10 runs was scored by a different player and all nine starters crossed the plate in the sixth inning. Pinch hitter Brandon Williams singled and scored in the ninth to account for the tenth run.
95 total batters came to the plate and 48 of them reached base.
15 walks were issued by a combined 12 pitchers and five men were hit by a pitch.
Despite the Brahmas’ use of five of those pitchers, only Gonzalez and O’Leary were given credit for throwing even a fraction of an inning as the other three failed to record an out.
West LA threw six wild pitches and Pierce’s J.C. Barker used three of them to advance to second, third and home plate after walking in the sixth inning.
Coming up next
As bizarre as the game proved to be, the record books will simply reflect it as a win, the Brahmas’ fourth in a row.
With a 6-3 record within the Western State Conference South division, Pierce remains atop the conference standings with Citrus College, whose 12-5 overall record bests the Brahmas’ 9-8 mark for the tiebreaker.
Pierce looks to continue its hot-streak today at West LA at 2:30 p.m.
