It’s been a year of tough battles and strong victories, but the Renegades baseball team finished the regular season off with a resilient statement.
The Renegades won four of their last seven games of the season, with wins against Antelope Valley, Citrus and Sequoias to end the season with an overall record of 14-25.
The Renegades ended the season with a three-game series against Citrus, in which BC was only able to pull off one win. The series started off on Apr. 23, and it wrapped up three days later.
The opening game on Apr. 23 went back and forth throughout, as Citrus opened the scoring in the first inning. However, BC’s Luke Shaw hit a single to tie it up in the bottom of the second. Subsequently, BC took a 2-1 lead after an error by Citrus.
The story of the game was Citrus’ ability to keep tying the game, as they tied it three times after BC kept taking a one run lead.
With the score tied at four in the bottom of the eighth, BC’s Austin Hubbell hit a solo home run, giving BC the lead for the fourth different time in the game.
Unfortunately, the visitors had one more rally in them, as Jordan Sheridan hit a go ahead two-run double to right field in the top of the ninth inning, to give Citrus a 6-5 lead.
Bakersfield College couldn’t pull through in the bottom of the ninth. Although Josh Gaeta rallied the crowd with a two-out single, it wasn’t enough to pull Renegades out of a tough win.
Defensively, the Renegades did not do a great job, as they committed two errors early in the game that led to two Citrus runs that came up huge at the end. BC pitcher Manuel Herrera started the game and had a quality start. Herrera pitched six innings with six strikeouts, and only one of his three runs allowed was earned.
Reliever Andres Rivera (1-4) took the loss, pitching the last three innings and giving up the last three runs.
Although no player or coach had time to comment after the game, the team was disappointed. Despite losing the second game 4-2, they did salvage a win in the series, winning 10-9 on Apr. 26.
The last game of the season was against Sequoias on Apr. 27, in which the Renegades won 12-9 to cap off the finale.
