Giants baseball set to host Marin in three-game series
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
College of the Sequoias' baseball team will be in search of its first win when it welcomes Marin to Visalia for a three-game series.
Games are scheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 2, 1 p.m. Feb. 3 and noon Feb. 4. Admission is $8 general and $5 for seniors and students.
The Giants fell to 0-3 on the season with a 9-5 nonconference loss at Bakersfield on Jan. 31.
Sequoias jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run single by Zach Milhous (Monache-Porterville) that brought home Chase Gomez (Tulare Western) and Jimmy Wallace (Show Low, Ariz.).
Bakersfield, however, responded with five runs in the bottom of the first -- highlighted by Trevor Spainhoward's two-run single.
The Giants pulled into a 5-5 tie in the third courtesy of a solo home run by Logan Schweizer (Sacramento) and a two-run double my Milhous, but the Renegades (3-1), but managed only six hits the rest of the way while getting shut down by Bakersfield relievers David Delgadillo and Alex Rodriguez.
The Renegades went ahead for good with a three-run fourth inning that featured Spainhoward's two-run double.
Milhous finished 3 for 4 with four RBIs to lead the Giants.
Sequoias opened the season with a 7-5 home loss to Allan Hancock on Jan. 27 followed by a 14-10 loss to the Bulldogs (2-0) on Jan. 28.
In the first game, the Giants fell behind 6-0 through two innings and were never able to erase the deficit.
An RBI groundout by Nate Gilson (El Diamante) gave Sequoias a run in the third.
Gomez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth to force in a second run.
And Sequoias made it 7-5 in the sixth as Wallace ripped a two-run triple and Gilson added an RBI single.
The Giants squandered a chance to tie in the eighth when they failed to cash in on a bases-loaded, one-out situation.
Wallace finished 4 for 5 with two RBIs, while Schweizer and Jacob Jiles (Cesar Chavez-Delano) each collected two hits for Sequoias.
In the second game against Allan Hancock, the Giants were held to three hits over the final five innings after scoring 10 runs on 10 hits through the first four.
Sequoias tied the score 2-2 in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Schweizer and a run-scoring sacrifice by Gilson.
After giving up three runs in the top of the second, the Giants tied the score up again 5-5 on a two-run double by Schweizer and an RBI single by Gilson.
Sequoias got four runs in the bottom of the fourth to trail 11-9 as Schweizer had a run-scoring double followed by RBI singles from Gilson, Milhous and Benjamin Rodriguez (Tulare Western).
The Giants would get only one more run -- Mathew Gonzalez (Golden West) scored on a wild pitch -- as the Bulldogs pulled away behind Caelan Dalman's three-run triple in the fourth and Niko Pecskovszky's two-run single in the sixth.
Schweizer finished 3 for 5 with four RBIs, while Gilson was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Jackson Brooks (Exeter) was 2 for 4 with three runs.
After the Marin series, Sequoias will play seven more nonconference games before opening Central Valley Conference play at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 at reigning champion Fresno City.
The Giants upcoming nonconference schedule includes a three-game series at Cuesta on Feb. 9-11, a single home game Feb. 14 against Allan Hancock, and a three-game home series against Golden West on Feb. 17-19.
