American River College’s baseball team stands with a record of 5-5 through 10 games, righting the ship after three bad losses in its first four games.
Following a 7-4 home win against Solano Community College on Feb. 10, ARC’s team is now in the midst of playing six straight games on the road, the last of which is today in a rematch at Solano.
In the first five games of that stretch, ARC compiled a 3-2 record, losing the first two games at Hartnell College before winning three straight at Mission College in Santa Clara, Shasta College in Redding, and Laney College in Oakland. The results of the Solano game were not available as of press time.
The game at Shasta was originally scheduled to be played three weeks ago, but was forced to be played at a different time due to rain in the Redding area
As a result, the scheduling quirk forced ARC to play at Mission College in Santa Clara on Feb. 17, and then make its way up to Redding early in the morning the following day.
In the two games at Hartnell College in Salinas over the Valentine’s Day weekend, ARC played competitively in a 10-6 loss on Feb. 14 before being blown out 12-1 on Feb. 14.
ARC shut out Mission College 10-0, thanks in large part to a six-run second inning. The team totaled 16 hits in the victory.
Despite the travel from the night before and the early morning turnaround, the team came out and dominated Shasta College the following day, winning by a final of 17-6.
“I think they did a good job,” said ARC head coach Doug Jumelet on the team winning both games despite the difficult travel schedule in a short time span.
Saturday in Oakland, the team scored three runs early and never gave up the lead to Laney College, punctuating the win with four runs in the eighth inning for a 10-4 victory.
Early inning pitching settles down
After the first few games largely saw ARC’s starting pitchers struggling from first pitch, the staff has settled down to allow no more than two runs in the first inning over the team’s last five games. Matt Gunter has steadily improved as the season has progressed, going seven innings while only allowing two hits and striking out eight in the 10-0 win at Mission College. Gunter also has struck out 25 batters, good enough for seventh overall in the state.
Offense stays hot
The team has scored at least six runs in every game since it’s last home game, a Feb. 10 win against Solano. The lone exception was in the 12-1 loss at Hartnell College. Corner infielder Kirby Broadbent is second overall in the state with a .533 batting average and .833 slugging percentage, and is fifth in the state with an on base percentage of .600.
Upcoming schedule
The team will play its first home game in over two weeks on Thursday when it hosts Diablo Valley College. Next week, it’s straight back out on the road to play Modesto on March 3, home against Cosumnes River College on March 5, and at Diablo Valley College the following day. All games are scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
