Apparently Fresno City College got all of the theatrics out of its system on Tuesday night.
The Rams rallied from a run down in the bottom of the ninth to escape with a 5-4 victory over Merced College.
They weren't about to leave things to the last minute again on Thursday night at Blue Devil Diamond.
Fresno City got up early on Merced and never relented, taking a two-game lead in the Central Valley Conference with a 12-0 victory.
"It seems like such a small difference in detail can have a dramatic difference on the scoreboard," Blue Devils right fielder Ian Fregosi said. "We feel like we can go out and beat these guys on any day.
"This scoreline isn't an indication of our abilities. We just didn't get it done tonight."
MC lacked the polish that's come to be associated with Chris Pedretti's squad.
The Blue Devils failed in executions, had throws sail just off of the mark, couldn't make pitches in big spots and couldn't make the 50-50 plays go their way.
The Rams took advantage of all of it.
Fernando Garcia produced a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the second to put FCC (8-0 CVC, 12-4) up 1-0.
The rout was on from there.
The Rams tacked on two runs in the third, another in the fourth and two more in each of the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
First baseman David Rohm was responsible for a good portion of the damage, driving in four runs with a 3-for-5 effort.
"We just didn't pitch very well," Pedretti said. "Our inexperience on the mound showed a little bit tonight.
"(Clint) Manzo and (Anthony) Mendoza could have really benefitted from those eight games we lost to the cuts.
"They'd each probably have about 20 more innings under them right now."
While MC's freshmen struggled on the big stage, Fresno City's freshman hurler excelled.
Michael York played his high school ball about 20 miles away in Chowchilla, but he looked right at home on the MC mound.
York improved to 3-0 on the season by limiting the Blue Devils to no runs on four hits in eight complete innings.
He struck out seven and only one hit after the fourth inning.
The Blue Devils had their chance to get to York early, but twice he managed to dance his way out of trouble.
MC (6-2 CVC, 9-6) looked poised to answer right back in the bottom half of the second when Hunter Adrian and Craig Beevers opened the inning with consecutive singles.
Sergio Perez tried to move both runners into scoring position with a bunt down the third-base line, but York sprang off of the mound and was able to toss out Adrian at third.
York followed that up with back-to-back strikeouts of Tynan Pedretti and Connor Oldcorn to escape unscathed.
Fregosi had MC right back in business in the fourth inning, reaching on an infield single and advancing to second on a throwing error.
Adrian followed with a line shot that shortstop Bryce Barger couldn't handle, but the ball fell right to his feet, leaving him time to recover and get Adrian at first.
Beevers then grounded a ball right to Rohm at first, who threw out Fregosi at the plate to end the threat.
MC finished the game 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
The Blue Devils will now try to avoid a three-game sweep and huge gap in the CVC when they travel to Fresno on Saturday.
"We're definitely going to have to play a lot better," Pedretti said. "We'll have Shawn Stuart throwing and if he pitches like he has been, we'll be in good shape.
"I'm confident we'll be ready to play."
Sean Lynch is a Sun-Star sports writer. He can be reached at 385-2476 or via e-mail at slynch@mercedsun-star.com.
At Merced College
Fresno 012 122 022 -- 12 12 2
Merced 000 000 000 -- 0 4 3
Michael York, Nathan Hayes (9) and Chris Kuber. Clint Manzo, Anthony Mendoza (6), Christian Grossi (8) and Michael Stewart. WP -- York 3-0. LP -- Manzo 1-1.
FRESNO -- Bryce Barger 3B (RBI), David Rohm 3-5 (4 RBI), Zach Sullivan 2B (RBI), Kuber 2-2 (HR, 2 RBI), Fernando Garcia 2-2 (RBI), Jake Barcellos 2B.
MERCED COLLEGE -- Ian Fregosi 2-3.
Records: Fresno City 8-0 CVC, 12-4; Merced College 6-2 CVC, 9-7.
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