Pierce College baseball pulled off an 8-7 win against Antelope Valley College on Tuesday. In a close and intense game, consistency was key for the Brahmas, according to Head Coach Bill Picketts.
“I thought it was a game where we competed all nine innings,” Head Coach Bill Picketts said. “That’s exactly what I ask of them.”
The Brahmas approached the field on Tuesday with a season record of 1-5, while Antelope Valley Marauders arrived at Pierce’s Joe Kelly Field with a 6-1 win-loss record so far this season. These previous stats didn’t stop the Brahmas from giving the game their all—and the commitment paid off.
“It’s good to play these games,” Picketts said. “We’ve recently had some rough games and I wanted to see how they handled it. Obviously with the win, they handled it great.”
Tuesday’s game was mostly close from start to finish, with a 2-2 tie as of the end of the third inning.
In the fourth inning, the Brahmas scored four runs, propelling them to a total of six points with half the game to go. The Marauders scored one point. The standout fourth inning was due in part to third baseman Patrick Fernandez hitting a triple when he went up to bat.
“That inning felt really, really good,” Fernandez said. “I’m glad that I helped the team. We brought it back and we brought it home.”
In the fifth inning, the Marauders tallied three points, while the Brahmas scored two, bringing the score to 8-6.
Competition throughout the rest of the game remained fierce, but the final innings proved to be low-scoring, with the Marauders picking up one point and the Brahmas not scoring any additional points. Picketts lauded the team’s consistently strong pitching as a key part of their path to success.
Pitcher JJ Torrente took to the mound during the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“It was all about believing in myself and my teammates,” Torrente said. “I was able to throw strikes and have the trust that the defense would make the outs for me.”
Coming off of this early spring win, the Brahmas are looking to build momentum and turn around after a rocky start to the season, according to Picketts.
“I’m just super happy we won,” Fernandez said. “The team is good but we just haven’t been working together well enough. Today we were able to come together and we fought for that win.”
