The Bakersfield College baseball team lost back-to-back games to Glendale College, bumping the Renegades out of the playoffs.
BC came into the final two games of the season tied with Glendale for one of the two playoff spots available in Western State Conference. Coming into the game, five WSC teams all had viable playoff hopes with four of the five playing each other in season-ending series.
With both teams needing to sweep the two games to lock down a spot, Glendale won the first game 1-0 behind the arm of Ryan Sherriff who pitched a complete game shutout. Sherriff had 12 strikeouts in the game as well.
Head coach Tim Painton summed up the opposing left-hander Sherriff’s performance as “outstanding.”
After the first loss to Glendale, the Renegades still had a chance for postseason after LA Pierce College lost 5-2 to Citrus College.
Heading onto the final game on April, BC was now in a three-way tie for second in conference with Canyons and Citrus.
The Renegades scored two runs in the second game and looked to have a chance, although they were still down a run. But in the bottom of the eighth, Glendale secured its own postseason plans with a grand slam by Sako Chapjian off of freshman relief pitcher Phillip Valos.
“Woodward did enough to keep them in the game and they have probably the best bullpen guy in the conference; they brought him in and shut the game down once they got a lead,” said Painton.
“Offensively, they did a great job at their place to break the game open with a grand slam late. And they’re deserving to be where they’re at,” he said.
Sophomore David Pennington felt the team still had a chance.
“Well the grand slam was just a small part of the game and I believe they hit it in the seventh so that put them up five so we still had two more at-bats, so all hope wasn’t lost yet. Even though it seemed like a big deal it was only one play and that kind of stuff is a part of the game,” he said.
That loss dropped the Renegades to 11-10 in WSC play, as Citrus, LA Pierce and Canyons all finished tied with a 12-9 record and will be three of the four teams in a play-in game for the final two spots in the SoCal Regional.
Pennington said the team knew the situation they were in going down the stretch. “We knew what we had got ourselves into going into the last week of the season and we knew that if we wanted a for sure spot in the playoffs we had to win both games,” he said.
“The last two weeks of the season is a grind and all the teams are tired mentally and physically, so we tried to keep each other to try and get the best result possible.”
He went on to discuss the season as a whole, “From a baseball standpoint we didn’t quite accomplish what we wanted to, but our team chemistry was higher than you could ever ask for.
“I loved being around every single one of those guys out there every single day and we are together so much we are just a big family. We may have lost a couple games, but what I gained from this season is so much more than playing a game.”
Painton said of the season that it was an overall positive experience throughout.
“It wasn’t a disappointment. I think anytime you go into a season and you go down to the last day of the season and you have an opportunity for a playoff spot you’ve done a pretty good job,” he said. “We ended up short of where we wanted to be. That last week kind of did us in, but Glendale was playing very well at the time.”
He also felt it was a positive learning experience for the freshman.
“I think going into this season we knew pitching was going to be our strength. We knew offense was something we had to try and develop as the season went along. We showed flashes of not having any offense.
“All in all, we had the opportunity to put some freshman on the field that gained some valuable experience. Hopefully, that bodes well for the future.”