Eagles take advantage of wild start to defeat Sox
Appeal-Democrat
The pitching staff that has been so solid for the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox down the stretch, struggled early Sunday and the Oakland Eagles salvaged an 8-2 win in the third and final game of the series at All-Seasons RV Stadium.
The game did not, however, count against the Gold Sox in the Horizon Air Summer Series standings. The Gold Sox came into the night a half game ahead of the Aloha Knights, 11/2 ahead of the Solano Thunderbirds and 21/2 in front of the Salinas Valley Packers in the McCullough Division.
The Gold Sox travel to Salinas for a two-game set on Tuesday.
Yuba-Sutter starter Gary Simmons (0-1) walked three batters and hit three others, helping the Eagles to a 3-0 lead after three innings.
Simmons hit Bob Saunders with the bases loaded in the second for Oakland's firs run, and walked Denis Hill with the bases full for the second score. Ryan Deakyne, a sophomore at Sierra College, slapped a third-inning single to score Brandon McDougal with the Eagles' third run.
It didn't get much better when former Yuba City High standout Alberto Rolon took the mound at the start of the fourth.
The Butte College hurler served up four earned runs in his first inning of work, including walking in another run. Dusty Sulon had a two-run single and McDougal knocked in one with a groundout in the rally as the Eagles took a 7-0 lead.
In the meantime, Eagles' starter Trevor Murphy (4-2) stymied the Gold Sox hitters.
He gave up two singles to A.J. Valentine and Jason Searle in the first, but got Junior Contreras to flyout to end the threat.
Billy Sinacori led off the second with a single, but was called out at second trying to steal when Jonny Norfolk was called with interfering with catcher Matt Kavanaugh's throw. Kavanaugh also plays for the Butte Roadrunners.
Murphy then sat down the next seven batters before Norfolk flipped a one-out base hit to right in the fifth. One out later, Billy Krause lined another single to right, but Murphy retired Cole Koester on a grounder to shortstop to get out of the inning.
J.P. Dacanay replaced Murphy to start the sixth inning, a run of four Eagle pitchers to close out a game. And while seeing Muprhy leave was good news for the Gold Sox, the hole was too deep.
Valentine and Searle welcomed Dacanay to the game with back-to-back, one-out singles, and with two outs, Billy Sinacori ripped a single up the middle to put the Gold Sox on the board, 7-1.
Cole Koester drove in the second run for the Gold Sox in the seventh off Bret Wallace, a groundball to second that scored Greg Thomas, who had doubled to start the inning.
Erik Gellerman and Alex Mauricio worked scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively, for the Eagles.
Rolon did settle down after his rough fourth, allowing no runs and only one hit over the next two innings.
Justin Souza, a Sacramento City College pitcher, made his Gold Sox debut in the seventh. He gave up one run on two hits in two innings. The run came in the eighth when Terrell Harbin doubled and scored on a single by McDougal to make it 8-2.
Jake McKinley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Gold Sox outhit the Eagles 10-8. Valentine, Sinacori and Thomas each had two hits.
Notes: The Gold Sox took the season series 5-2 against the Eagles.
