4/17:  Coming off of three narrow contests in a row (3-2 win over San Rafael, 6-5 loss to Monte Vista, 4-3 win over Terra Linda), the JV Giants came into Wednesday’s game against Tamalpais looking to avoid another nailbiter.  Thanks in large part to a dominant effort from Mikey Bender on the mound, they were able to do just that, defeating Tam by a score of 4-0.  With the win, the Giants ran their record to 10-5 (7-2 in MCALs).

Bender was in total command from the first pitch, although that first pitch was a doozy, in that it got by catcher Ethan Crawford and hit the home plate umpire squarely in his left hand, ending his day and rendering the base umpire a soloist for the afternoon.

In a rarity of late, the Giants put runs on the board early in this one. Charlie Ginsburg led off the bottom of the first with a walk.  After stealing second, Ginsburg advanced to third on an infield single by Isaak Irmini-Kreft.  Irmini-Kreft then also stole second, and Tommy Quanstrom drove them both home with a single to left.  Three batters into the game the Giants led 2-0.

The Giants tacked on with single runs in the second and fourth innings.  A pair of errors by Tam’s first baseman led to a Giants run in the second, and Thomas Johnson drove in Asher Jacobs with a double to left-center in the fourth.

Four runs was more than enough for Bender, who went the distance, yielding only two hits and striking out ten against a single walk.  Bender threw only 84 pitches in the game (56 for strikes), and Tam never got a runner past second base.

For their next two games, the JV Giants travel to Novato on Thursday (first pitch 4:30 PM) and Casa Grande on Saturday (first pitch 2:30 PM).