MC baseball rallies past West Hills

Blake Cederlind’s move to the bullpen has solidified the back end for Merced College baseball.

After early struggles in the starting rotation, the sophomore right-hander was returned to the roll that he excelled at as a freshman. Cederlind said he’s more focused coming in out of the ’pen, and his experience and presence have proven a calming force for a young relief corps that struggled out of the gate as well.

The Blue Devils certainly needed a little calm after a wild opening five innings on Thursday night. No lead looked safe as MC and West Hills combined for 18 runs in the first five frames. Cederlind helped bring that to an end, allowing no runs on three hits and striking out a season-high seven batters in 4 2/3 innings of relief. Cederlind’s zeros gave the Blue Devil offense ample time to rally as Merced College pulled out an 11-7 victory.

“(Cederlind) was a little wild coming in,” MC coach Chris Pedretti said. “ I think he was overthrowing a little. He managed to pitch his way around that and really settled in. He’s been really good for us. He’s stabilized our bullpen and pitched some big innings for us.”

It certainly didn’t look like Cederlind’s services would be needed early.

Nicholas Gonzales, who was 4-1 in his last six starts, mowed down the West Hills lineup in order to start the game and was rewarded with a four-run bottom half of the inning.

Asaka Hashimoto (2 for 3, RBI) led off with an infield single and came in to score when Ricky Mena’s (2 for 3, 2 RBI) sacrifice bunt attempt was thrown away. Victor Tiscareno singled in a run and Coleton Horner (2 for 5) doubled in another as the Blue Devils (14-11, 11-3 Central Valley Conference) pushed across four runs on five hits.

The lead didn’t last long.

Evan Walter opened the second with a solo home run to left. It sparked four straight hits by the Falcons (3-20, 2-9 CVC) to start the second inning. Jake Lorenzini (3 for 5, two doubles) doubled in a run and West Hills tied the game when David Vidauri’s attempt to start a double play sailed into left field. The Falcons would tack on a sacrifice fly and take a 5-4 lead.

Mena tied things up with a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning.

“We’re all just trying to help the team out any way we can,” Mena said. “Whether it’s laying down a bunt or slapping a hit the other way, the goal is to just do what’s needed in the situation.

“I was lucky. I got the count in my favor and a pitch to hit. I was just able to muscle it over the fence.”

Someone who had no issue getting the ball over the fence was Walter. He put West Hills back on top in the top of the fifth inning with his second no-doubt blast of the evening. The two-run shot made it 7-5 Falcons and Gonzales was chased by a Torin Miller single one batter later.

Cederlind came on, but didn’t make things easy on himself, walking a pair of batters to load the bases. He recovered, striking out Matt Seidem to escape the jam and limit the damage.

“Too many walks,” Cederlind said. “That’s on me. I was getting ahead in the count and then started pitching around guys instead of just going at them. Walks have been the thing that have haunted us as a staff this year. We erase those, and teams are going to have a difficult time scoring on us.

“I know what this offense is capable of. I think they average six runs per game, so my job coming in was to just keep it close and let them win it for us.”

The Blue Devils did just that in the bottom half of the inning.

MC sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring six times on just three hits. Vidauri was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game and Lawrence Anderson put the team up for good with a bases-loaded walk.

“We had a lot of good fight tonight,” Pedretti said. “Nobody quit when we weren’t playing very well and everyone seemed to stick to the plan. Jason (Ingraham) and Ty (Pedretti) have done a great job with the hitters, developing a plan and having a good approach each time up.

“There were some great at-bats in that sixth inning. Whether it was drawing a walk or getting a hit, a lot of guys really made the pitcher work and it won us the game.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 10:33 PM with the headline "MC baseball rallies past West Hills."