Eagle Baseball Wins Two of Three IEAC Games

The MSJC baseball team rolled to a victory on Saturday at Barstow College and then split a pair of games on Wednesday at San Bernardino Valley.

On Saturday the Eagles hit the road and pounded out 20 hits as they came all the way back from a 12-1 deficit to defeat Barstow 22-16.  MSJC fell behind 9-0, before a single run in the top of the third started to stem the tide.  The Eagles then pushed across three runs in the top of the 4th and then exploded for 11 runs in the 5th to finally take the lead.  Aaron Harper had a big day as he had two hits and 4 RBIs as he gave MSJC some breathing room in the top of the 9th with a grand slam.  Gabriel Ponce De Leon also had 4 RBIs on the day as he went 3 for 6 at the plate with a double.  Eight different Eagles had at least two hits in the win and eight players drove in at least one run.  Richard Teran ended up earning the victory on the mound as he threw 7 innings of relief.

Wednesday the Eagles headed to San Bernardino Valley to first finish a suspended game from February 25th, and then play a full game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday.  In the suspended game the teams picked up in the bottom of the 9th with the score tied 11-11, it would stay that way until the top of the 12th when SBVC was able to push across three runs to pick up the 14-11 win.  Fabian Correa finished that game with 3 RBIs to lead the MSJC offense while Simon Rangel had 3 hits and a pair of runs driven in.

In the full game played Wednesday the Eagles bounced back with a solid pitching performance from Max Rangel to pick up a 7-5 win.  Correa got MSJC on the board in the top of the first when he picked up an RBI ground out that scored Joseph Hauck.  After the Wolverines had tied the game in the bottom of the first, Alfred Lopez picked up an RBI single to score Peter Brooks in the second and Ponce De Leon drove in Harper in the third.  The game would again be tied after SBVC scored two in the bottom of the 5th.  Anthony Thomas put the Eagles back on top with an RBI single in the top of the 7th, but yet again SBVC found an answer in the bottom half to even the score at 4-4 headed to the 8th.  A pair of bases loaded walks to Correa and Ponce De Leon finally put MSJC on top for good in the 8th and Hauck added an insurance run with a run scoring single in the 9th for the 7-5 victory.  Max Rangel earned the win on the mound going 7 complete innings allowing 3 earned runs while striking out 6 and walking none.  Alex Banuelos earned the save throwing the 8th and 9th as he gave up just one unearned run.  Ponce De Leon and Correa each had two RBIs in the win while Harper had two hits and scored two runs.

The Eagles now stand at 8-11 overall on the season and are 4-2 in Inland Empire Athletic Conference games.  MSJC has two more game this week scheduled with San Bernardino today (March 12th) and Saturday, but rain has postponed today's contest.  Next week the Eagles are scheduled for their final two non-conference games of the year at home on Friday March 20th against Citrus and at San Diego City on Saturday the 21st.