LA MIRADA, California- Lance Smith
The Shepherds took on the Arroyo Seco Sentinels on Sunday afternoon at Whittier Christian High School for their home opener. The boys looked to be headed towards a comfortable victory after scoring 8 runs in the first 2 innings but were unable to hold on to the lead as the Sentinels scored 10 unanswered in the remaining 7 innings. Andrew White, recent graduate from Whittier Christian and Azusa Pacific commit, got the start on the bump and was dominant in 3 innings of work with 6 strikeouts, only giving up 1 hit.
The game turned when White exited the game after the 3rd inning and the bullpen took over. The Sentinels quickly tied the game after scoring a combined 8 runs in the 4th and 5th innings. From there the Sheps struggled to string hits together as the Sentinels defense played a clean game and consistently made routine plays. The Sentinels threw 10 different pitchers for the game, contributing to the team not being able to get into a rhythm at the plate.
Jackson LoBianco picked up the loss (0-1) and Rashad Ruff (1-0) earned his 1st win of the season.
Notes
- Andrew White threw 3.0 innings, recorded 6 K’s, and only gave up 1 hit.
- Ben Peters threw 1.0 inning, giving up 1 earned run and 1 hit.
- Jackson LoBianco threw 2.0 innings, had 4 K’s, gave up 1 hit and 2 earned runs.
- Joey Scotvold threw 2 no hit innings.
- Gabe Falcone went 1 for 3 with an RBI double and a walk.
- Kaiden Zacharias went 1 for 1 with a pinch hit single.
- Jackson LoBianco went 1 for 2 in 4 at bats, drawing 2 walks.
- Connor Aldrich went 1 for 2 in 4 at bat’s, drawing 2 walks.
- Nathan Weatherly threw one runner out from behind the plate.
- The team drew 10 walks and the defense had no fielding errors.
Quote from coach Creason
“Today we came out with a lot of good energy in the dugout, everybody was intense and aggressive early, put some runs up, and then just weren’t able to keep building on it as the game went on. They were able to battle back and put together a couple of big innings, including a big 3 run homerun that got them ahead. So, 2 big innings is the only thing that kind of hurt us. When you get into those games you have to find a way to continue to score runs and keep the pressure on teams so that they can’t get those big innings and stay with you.”
What’s next
The Shepherds have their 3rd of 5 preseason games on Tuesday against the Orange County Pirates at 4 pm PST. The game will be played at Cypress Community College and be live streamed on the Southern California FCA Baseball Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/socalfcabaseball/.). To stay up to date on all things Shepherds baseball follow us on Instagram (@shepherds_baseball), Twitter (@SoCalShpherds), and Facebook (Southern California FCA Baseball).