Fortunes turn quickly for Ryan Sanchez, MC baseball against Taft
Merced College pitcher Ryan Sanchez deserved a better fate Thursday afternoon.
For 72/3 innings, the freshman stifled Taft’s offense, striking out eight and shutting out the Cougars on four hits.
All of it changed on his 114th pitch when Jeff Gilstrap ripped a two-out double to tie the game. Sanchez exited right after and things got away from the Blue Devils, as Taft added two more eighth-inning runs to rally for a 3-1 victory at Blue Devil Field.
“It was just basically my last two pitches,” said Sanchez, who fell to 4-6. “They weren’t quite as pinpoint as they needed to be. I left a ball up and he hit it hard.
“The bullpen will usually pick me up in that situation, but we just didn’t get it done today.”
The Blue Devils offense didn’t do Sanchez many favors, either.
When MC scored in the first inning, it appeared the Blue Devils (17-12, 10-7 Central Valley Conference) would pick up where they left off from Wednesday’s nine-run outburst to beat the Cougars, 9-7.
But Joseph Salmeri’s two-out single to plate David Vidauri would be MC’s only run.
Taft starter Robby Brewster (5-3) allowed just two hits the rest of the way and only one base runner in his last three innings.
MC’s best chance at insurance came in the bottom of the fifth when a Daniel Hermosillo single and a Vidauri walk gave the Blue Devils two on with one out and the heart of the order coming up. Brewster escaped the jam by getting Adam Nascimento to strike out and Ryan Cumberland to pop up.
“Both guys went out and pitched well,” Blue Devils coach Chris Pedretti said. “We just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We had basically the same scenario as they did at the end of the game, with some guys on and our two and three hitters up.
“They got the job done and we didn’t.”
Taft (16-13, 8-9 CVC) finally got to Sanchez in the eighth when Austin Pendergrass worked a leadoff walk. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second and a deep fly to center advanced Pendergrass to third with two down. Sanchez’s hopes for escaping unscathed shattered when Gilstrap jumped on the first pitch he saw and drove it into the left-center field gap to tie the score.
MC closer Brandon Adame then surrendered a double, walk and single as Taft took a 3-1 lead.
“That’s really the first time he hasn’t gotten it done for us,” Pedretti said of Adame. “But we were asking an awful lot of him after he pitched two innings on Wednesday.”
MC will try to win the three-game series when it travels to Taft for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
Sun-Star staff writer Sean Lynch can be reached at (209) 385-2476 or slynch@mercedsunstar.com.
This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Fortunes turn quickly for Ryan Sanchez, MC baseball against Taft."