LA MIRADA, California- Lance Smith
The Shepherds had their first game back after a week of camp and got things started against the Long Beach Legends on Saturday afternoon. Roy Washburn took the mound and looked to continue his consistent play as he came into the game boasting a 1.80 ERA.
The theme of the season for the Sheps has been a lack of timely hitting and therefore little production at the plate. This could not have been more evident in the first 5 innings of today’s game as the Shepherds left a number of runners on base and it looked like it may end up being same song, different verse.
That was until the bottom of the 6th inning when Emry Jackson hit a leadoff double and the offense came alive. After Jackson, the offense loaded the bases with just 1 out and Gabe Falcone up at the plate. Falcone went down 2 strikes before rocketing a fastball into left field for a ground rule double, driving in 2 runs. The offense continued to roll tacking on 2 more runs in the 6th and then adding another in the 8th heading into the 9th needing just 3 more outs to secure the victory.
With the offense finding their way, the Sheps looked to Roy Washburn to stymie the Legends offense. Washburn pitched masterfully giving up 6 hits and just 2 runs in 7.0 IP. Gabe Jackson was called upon in the 8th inning to relieve Washburn and closed the door on the Legends sealing a victory for the Shepherds.
Roy Washburn (2-1) picked up the win and Travis Behrens (1-1) was tacked with the loss.
Notes
- Roy Washburn recorded a season high 9 strikeouts
- Gabe Jackson earned his first save of the season while maintaining his 0.00 ERA
- Both pitchers combined for a .735 first strike %
- The defense came back into form only committing 1 error
- Nathan Weatherly threw out one runner from behind the plate
- Simms Owens was hit by the pitch twice and leads the team in HBP with 4 total.
- The team combined for 10 total hits, a regular season high.
Quote from Gabe Falcone
“You know, it’s summer ball. We just gotta come out here, have fun, and stop thinking so much. We just gotta go out there, swing, and throw the ball. We just need to have fun out there and I think we had fun today so we just gotta keep that going.”
What’s next
The Shepherds have another league game on Monday, the 5th versus the Inland Valley Pirates at 6 pm PST. The game will be live streamed on the Shepherds Facebook page which can be found at 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).