Jesse Gassman pitched four scoreless innings before leaving after getting hit in the eye by a foul tip off his bat in the top of the 11th.
4/16: The Giants Varsity Baseball Team started their critical MCAL game versus Tamalpais on Tuesday, played nine innings, and needed three more to decide the winner on Saturday. Facing Tam’s ace, the boys scored two runs in the top of the first inning. Matt Birchenough lead off with a hard-hit single to right field. Lucas Roy followed with a single to left field. Genki LeClair was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Birchenough and Roy would each score on wild pitches (2-0). Tam, however, would respond with four runs in the bottom half of the inning (2-4).
Jackson Reed tries to turn a double play and the 11th inning ends on offensive interference call.
The Giants cut the lead in the top of the third inning with a Ben Cohen homerun over the left field fence. Tam, however, would add to their lead in the bottom of the fourth and fifth with three more runs (3-7).
In the top of the sixth inning, Alex Hagen lead off with a single to right field. Jarod Robinow followed with a single to right, advancing Hagen. Jake Nordstrom then bunted the runners into scoring position. Lucas Roy came up big with a double to left center field, scoring Hagen and Robinow (5-7). In what ordinarily would have been a game losing dagger, Tam plated three runs in the bottom half of the sixth, leaving the Giants with a five-run deficit to overcome in the seventh – no problem.
Ben Cohen lead off with a line drive single to right field. Jarod Robinow hit a hard ground ball to Short and safely reached base on the error, advancing Cohen to third. Jake Nordstrom would get walked, loading the bases with one out. Matt Birchenough then put the ball in play, leading to a fielder’s choice, forcing Nordstrom out at second base and scoring Cohen – (6-10) with two outs. Lucas Roy then drove the ball to deep left center field, scoring Robinow and Birchenough (8-10). Genki LeClair kept the line moving with a single to left field, advancing Roy to third base. Jackson Barry brought the house down with a double to right field, scoring both Roy and LeClair and tying the game at ten apiece. Jesse Gassman would enter the game in the bottom of the seventh and bravely throw the 7th, 8th and 9th, keeping the Hawks scoreless. The game would eventually be called due to darkness. 10 to 10 after nine innings.
Lucas Roy relieves Gassman and pitches 3 scoreless innings to get the victory.
On Saturday morning a large crowd gathered at 10 a.m. to watch the conclusion of the exciting match. Tam would once again get their ace on the hill and Redwood would continue to rely on Jesse Gassman. Jesse would strike out two and force a pop up to keep the Giants hopes alive. Unfortunately, Gassman would foul a pitch off his bat into his face in the top of the eleventh, suffering a fracture and game ending injury. Redwood would turn a controversial double play in the bottom half and get out of the inning.
Lucas Roy was handed the ball in the 12th and carried the Giants the remainder of the game. In the bottom of the 13th inning, the Man of the Match, Lucas Roy, singled down the third base line. Genki LeClair hit one to right field, advancing Roy to second base. Jackson Barry then got hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Jack Morken. After a missed squeeze play attempt, Roy was called out. With two outs, Morken put the ball in play to short and reached first base safely on the throwing error by Tam, scoring LeClair.
Jack Morken drives in the go ahead run in the top of the 13th with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs on a hard hit ball that gets through the drawn in infield.
The Giants kept everyone’s hearts pounding by allowing Tam to load the bases in the bottom half of the 13th, but the final out was secured by shortstop, Jackson Reed, after tracking down a shallow popfly to left. Final Score: 11 to 10, after 13 innings of play.
The Giants resume play on Tuesday April 23rd against Drake at Moody Field. First Pitch – 4:30 pm