Yankees topple Sox in series opener
Even though the Fourth of July is only a few days away, it was the Maxim Yankees, who lit up the early innings on Friday night.
Of course, the Gold Sox' second inning was a bit more like April Fool's Day, Halloween and Steve Bartman Day all rolled into one.
The Yankees scored five runs in that inning and went on to beat the Gold Sox 6-2 in the start of a three-game, nonleague series in Marysville.
“That was probably our worst inning of the year, and I don't know why,” said Gold Sox manager Brad Peek. “I guess when you're dealing with young human players, who are human beings, that's going to happen. It was a strange inning. Sometimes things just keep going downhill.”
Maxim (8-8), coming off the championship of the Best of the West Tournament at Stanford, was as good as advertised. The Yankees showed off a healthy offense, slick gloves and fundamental baserunning.
“After the game, I told our guys, ‘That's a team you can learn from,' ” Peek said. “They have a lot of ex-college and ex-minor league guys, and they know how to approach the game.”
The Gold Sox actually got 71/3 shutout innings from relievers Jason Maes, Tony Biale and Kyle Maunus, but the damage had been done in the second against starter Jason Searle (3-2).
Searle, who flirted with a no-hitter against the San Francisco Seals a week ago, only lasted 12/3 innings, allowing six runs (four earned). He walked two, hit two and uncorked a wild pitch.
Two physical errors and two mental ones were largely to blame for the huge second inning.
Nate Corrick was hit with a pitch to begin the inning. Dave Ericson doubled, and left fielder Ryan Angel's wild throw allowed Corrick to score.
After one out, ex-Gold Sox Archie Gilbert and Anthony Contreras reached on infield singles, the latter which scored Ericson.
Gilbert eventually scored when Contreras got into a rundown between first and second. Brandon Macchi then tapped the ball to first baseman A.J. Valentine, but Searle failed to cover first, and Macchi beat Valentine in a race for the bag.
Macchi scored on Joe Perry's infield single. The inning looked like it might mercifully end when Mike Hartman grounded to second baseman Frank Jeney. However, Jeney bobbled the ball while standing on second, allowing Jordan Bergstrom to score the sixth run.
The Gold Sox scored once each in the third and ninth innings. Cameron Shick had a sacrifice fly to knock in R.C. Dickerson in the third and Brennan Garr's run-scoring double knocked in Dickerson in the ninth.
Garr finished 3-for-5 with two doubles.
Maxim got sturdy pitching from starter Erik Barbic and relievers Vince Boyanich (winning pitcher) and Corey Cabral (save). Barbic left with the lead but didn't pitch the five innings required to notch a win.
Notes: Jeney's 13-game hitting streak was snapped after he went 0-for-5 ... Gilbert, who stole 22 bases for the Gold Sox last year, was 1-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base ... Biale, who went 11/3 innings, has not allowed a run in 181/3 innings ... Searle's outing was the shortest of the year for a Yuba-Sutter starter ... Logan Ardis (1-1, 5.40) will get the start in today's game, and Vince DeCoito (1-1, 1.72) will throw on the Fourth of July on Sunday.
