Massive Middle Innings Mangle Freebirds in Coast Series Win
The Long Beach Coast (34-11) surged through the middle innings to secure the 2-1 series victory over the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (15-30) by a 13-4 finish on Thursday night.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | X | 13 | 11 | 0 |
LONG BEACH, CA – The Long Beach Coast (34-11) surged through the middle innings to secure the 2-1 series victory over the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (15-30) by a 13-4 finish on Thursday night.
The Coast led off each of the third-through-eighth innings with a base-runner, helping influence the 11-run rally across the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Four runs in the fourth and six in the sixth characterized that energy. 11 batters hustled to the plate in that sixth frame.
Designated hitter Cuba Bess nabbed an RBI in both of the big frames, finishing the evening 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored to complement those RBIs plus a stolen base. That sixth period included three swipes with one each from Bess, center fielder Emilio Corona, and right fielder Matthew Bardowell (left fielder Eddy Pelc stole the first bag of the game for the L.B.C. in the fifth). Bardowell batted twice in the sixth, recording a hit on both occasions.
Challenging those that stick to refrigerators, two Coast batters appeared as baseball magnets; third baseman Patrick Roche left with three baseball-sized welts, and catcher Johnny Pappas wore two. In addition to being hit by the pitch three times, Roche slugged a pair of doubles with two RBIs. Second baseman Jacob Jablonski also swatted a pair of two-baggers. Shortstop Anthony Mata entered the hit column twice, as well, scoring three times with an RBI.
Starter Garrett Van Deventer shined on the way to a win in his fourth-consecutive outing. The left-hander dealt 6.2 frames allowing four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts. Reliever Ryan Faulks followed up with 1.1 no-hit innings. Right-hander Gary Grosjean retired the side in the ninth inning including two strikeouts.
Long Beach begins the last series of the first half on Friday night in Modesto at 6:35 p.m. PDT. Coverage on the road begins with the Beach Ball Pre-Game Report at 6:15 p.m. both on the Home Team Network and with an audio-only stream on the Coast YouTube channel.
Jesse Cook