Sometimes it’s just the little mistakes that end up costing the most. This was the case Saturday as timely errors ended up being the El Camino baseball team’s undoing against Southwestern College.
The Warriors (3-2) suffered a late-inning heartbreaker this past Saturday in Chula Vista as they fell 4-3 against the Jaguars (6-1), but not before staging a late-inning comeback.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” coach Nate Fernley said. “That’s a good team and a tough place to compete, but we played very well.”
The Warriors had a productive day at the plate, out-hitting the Jaguars eight to seven, but in the end they were unable to get timely hits and bring runners home. Leaving six men stranded on base.
“We have to be mentally stronger,” freshman center fielder Keyon Allen said. “We’re not preparing before the pitch and it’s chaos on the field. We’re making mental errors.”
Starting sophomore pitcher Andy Burschinger had another solid outing. Pitching six innings while allowing six hits and striking out six batters.
“They had some really good hitters and they battled,” Burschinger said. “I was throwing all my breaking pitches for strikes and every at bat I felt like I had two strikes.”
The Warriors fell behind early in the bottom of the second inning with Burschinger giving up a home run to give the Jaguars a 2-0 lead. Although they would strike back quickly in the top of the third.
Freshman right fielder Alex Turner got on base with a bunt to start off the inning and get into scoring position by stealing second base. Allen would cut the Jaguars’ lead in half with a double to left field, bringing Turner home and making it a 2-1 game.
Turner and Allen would each finish with two hits as well as two RBI for Allen.
“I was just trying to help the team out and I squared up the ball pretty good,” Allen said.
The Jaguars would score another run the bottom of the sixth inning on a throwing error by freshman catcher Joey Notch, but the Warriors would once again respond the following inning.
Poncia would ground out to second base while allowing freshman out fielder Anthony Collins to score an unearned run, cutting the Jaguar lead to 3-2. Allen would then tie the game at 3-3 with a single to bring home Turner.
“If we can throw strikes and play defense, we’ll be in every game,” Fernley said.
The Warriors were looking primed to take the lead but could not come up with a timely hit in the top of the eighth and ninth innings. Ultimately falling behind 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning as sophomore pitcher Kevin McMahon walked a batter with the bases loaded.
“We’ve been playing good defense with great pitching and hitting. We just need to base run better,” freshman third baseman Ted Dilts said.
The Warriors will move on to San Bernardino Valley College for a three-game set against the Wolverines. With the final game being played Saturday at Warrior Field.
“We were running ourselves out of innings,” Notch said. “We need to clean up and shake it off. It’s a long season.”