Yuba earns baseball split with Feather River

It turns out an 11-day layoff didn't hurt the Yuba College baseball team all that much.

The 49ers finally returned to the diamond on Monday afternoon and looked strong while splitting a doubleheader against perennial powerhouse Feather River College at Gary Engelken Field.

Yuba dropped the first game 4-3 in 10 innings before bouncing back to take the nightcap by a score of 2-1.

Joe Garcia went 2 for 3 with a double and a home run and Dallas Walden (Sutter High) delivered an RBI-double to lead the 49ers in Game One. Tyler Osborne, Ray Osuna, Brandon Pope (Yuba City) and Ivan Lamas (River Valley) all pitched well in the loss for Yuba, as the 49ers surrendered just one earned run in the game.

In Game Two, sophomore pitcher Jake Johnson tosses six shutout innings of relief to lead the 49ers to the win. Johnson allowed just one hit, struck out five and walked one to earn the win.

The 49ers (3-3) won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Alex Cervantes singled up the middle, took second on a bunt by Brandon Rader (Colusa) and advanced to third on a deep fly ball by Anthony Stolo.

Cervantes then raced home with the game-winner on a wild pitch.

Garcia went 1 for 3 with a double and Walden went 2 for 3 to lead the way offensively, however, the name of the game on this day was the 49ers' pitching.

"It was the best pitching performance in two years," Yuba coach Tim Gloyd said. "We only gave up two earned runs in two games against the No. 7 team in Northern California."

The 49ers' next game is Wednesday at home against Butte College.

Local standouts shine

The Division-I college baseball season began over the weekend and several players with Mid-Valley ties shined.

Former Colusa High and Yuba College standout Matt Vedo got the call on the bump in the season opener for UC Santa Barbara and flourished in his first D-I start.

Vedo, who will pitch for the Marysville Gold Sox this summer, struck out four batters and surrendered two earned runs over 62⁄3 innings of work to lead the Gauchos to a 7-3 victory over La Salle.

Just down the road in Davis, former Yuba City High right-hander Sam Kuykendall made his first start at the collegiate level for Sacramento State.

Kuykendall didn't allow a run in 51⁄3 innings pitched against UC Davis and only allowed three hits. The Hornets eventualy lost 1-0 though.

Back on the East Coast, former Yuba College 49er and Marysville Gold Sox shortstop Adrian Perez had a breakout weekend for the Temple Owls.

In three games this past weekend, Perez combined to go 8 for 18, knocked in six runs and scored eight runs.

Eastern Michigan's Corey Chaffins, who spent the summer of 2009 with the Gold Sox, defeated No. 4 Clemson by pitching 31⁄3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory.

Chaffins' teammate Daniel Russell, who will play at Appeal-Democrat Park this summer, had four hits in the game.