ROCKLIN, Calif. – Day two of the Corban University baseball team's trip to Rocklin, Calif. to face the William Jessup Warriors consisted of two hard-fought battles that did not end up falling in the Navy and Gold's favor. Corban would drop the day's opening game by a score of 5-2, and fall in a nail-biter 8-7 to end the four-game series.
Below are the box scores for each of today's games.
BOX SCORE 1 BOX SCORE 2
The Navy and Gold started off the scoring quickly, as Maxwell Jeffrey led off the day's first contest with a two-bagger to left-center. He then would advance to third on a passed ball, allowing Estenio Sede to drive him in with an RBI groundout to the second baseman.
Jessup was quickly able to erase Corban's early lead, as they tallied a run of their own in the bottom half of the first. Kawaiola Takemura drilled a single into left to start the inning, and subsequently swiped second base. The aggressiveness on the base paths led to an RBI opportunity for Kevin Jordan Jr., who capitalized by shooting a single past the glove of Warrior second baseman Reese Fawley for a base knock and a run batted in.
In the bottom of the second, Jessup once again tallied a run on an RBI single. This time around, it was Takemura who drove in Warrior pinch-runner Mason Sherrill from second base. Sherrill had entered the game for Nick Kasparian after he smacked a single to right field. Sherrill stole second immediately after entering the contest, and then scored on the grounder through the left side.
After a couple of quiet innings, Jessup added another single run in the fifth. Jordan Jr. tallied his second RBI of the game on a double that was roped down the left field line. Scoring all the way from first base on the play was Mike Shoenberger, who had singled in the previous at-bat.
The Navy and Gold would not quit, however, as they were able to cut the lead to just one in the top of the eighth. Sede drilled his first homer of the campaign off of Jessup reliever Marlin Brucato to make it 3-2 in favor of the home Warriors.
After a Warrior pitching change to begin the bottom of the eighth, William Jessup was able to add a pair of runs to their tally on a two-run blast by right fielder Jordan Yu, which drove in the previous batter Dante Peretti, who had reached on a walk.
After a promising start to the top of the ninth—where Kyle Clay singled through the left side of the infield—a fielder's choice and two strikeouts doomed the chance for a Corban comeback.
Zack Simon was charged with the loss for the Navy and Gold, though he pitched well. The third-year pitcher allowed just three runs in the game, and set down seven Warrior hitters on strikes. Simon also allowed just one free pass in the contest.
Benny May earned the win in relief, as he pitched five strong scoreless frames for William Jessup. He struck out four and allowed just three hits.
In game number two, the Navy and Gold leaned heavily upon the long ball, as the contest began with a Jeffrey solo shot to left to put the visiting Warriors ahead early.
Once again, the Jessup offense struck back in the bottom of the first on a Jordan Jr. rocket over the center field wall to tie the score.
This time, it was Corban who put the next tally on the board in the top of the third, as Jeffrey and Sede strung together a short two-out rally with a double to right and an RBI single up the middle, respectively.
The Navy and Gold failed to record a shutdown inning, however, as Shoenberger pushed home a run on an RBI groundout and Jordan Jr. blasted his second solo homer of the contest. After three innings, the home Warriors led 3-2.
Corban would flip the script in the top of the fifth, as Keenan O'Brien led off the stanza with a double to left center. Sede once again stepped to the plate with a runner in scoring position and golfed a breaking ball down and in over the right field fence to push the Warriors ahead 4-3.
Another run would cross for WJU in the fifth as well. Takemura slapped a worm-burner through the right side to score Kevin Gutierrez, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
With the score tied at four, Corban picked up a two-run double from Maxwell Jeffrey with the bases loaded in the sixth stanza as Bradley Thomas and Clay came across to score for the Warriors. The Warriors were nearly able to add on to the lead, as Sede smoked a liner over the head of Ricardo Torres Jr. but was foiled by the defensive shift as Takemura was playing right behind second base to make the stab.
As was the theme of the day for the Navy and Gold, another shutdown inning opportunity went by the wayside, as the fatal blow was delivered by Jessup in the bottom of the sixth. A hit-by-pitch and back-to-back doubles led to a 6-6 tie, as Connor Franco added two runs batted in to his stat line. But the damage had not yet been done, as Joseph Luevano then torched a line-drive two-run shot to right field, scoring both he and Franco. The blast put the home Warriors ahead 8-6.
The Corban offense put together a valiant effort in the top of the seventh, as they pushed across a run on an RBI groundout by Morgan Hostetler. They were then able to load the bases with two outs, down just a single run, but could not cash in on the opportunity. William Jessup were once again victorious, this time by a narrow 8-7 final.
Throughout the day for Corban, the offense was led by the efforts of Jeffrey (4-for-8, HR, 3 RBI) and Sede (3-for-8, 2 HR, 5 RBI), as they were responsible for driving in all but one of the Warriors' runs on the entire day.
For WJU, it was Jordan Jr. (5-for-9, 2 HR, 4 RBI) that led the offensive charge all day long. The Warriors' four bombs on day two helped propel them to the four-game sweep.
Tanner Lundberg got the start for the Navy and Gold, and went three innings, allowing three runs. All three runs came as a result of the two homeruns in the game by Jordan Jr. Braedyn Chong relieved him and pitched 1.2 innings of one-run ball before handing the ball to Jacob Bowser who was credited with the loss after Jessup's seventh inning offensive outburst.
For William Jessup, it was not a great game for the pitchers, as Brett Wetteland pitched just four frames and allowed two runs on six hits. Kristian Hernandez was unable to stop the Warriors in relief as he let up three tallies in just 1.1 innings. In addition, Torres Jr. did not fare well on the mound in this one, but he was able to step up when it mattered and earned the win for the Warriors.
Corban (0-8) will head home to Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Ore. next weekend, where they will play host to familiar opponent Oregon Tech in a non-conference four-game set. The Warriors will be hoping to get into the win column as the start of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) slate approaches.