Gilroy – An inconsistent strike zone and a four-run fifth inning put the Gavilan Rams baseball team in too big of a hole as the De Anza Dons defeated Gavilan, 8-4, on Thursday. In their first game in a week due to the inclement weather, the Rams took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Leadoff batter Nick Ramos got things started for Gavilan (7-11-1, 1-3) with a bunt single.
With one out and the bases loaded following a single by Efrain Ruiz and James Molina getting beaned in the leg, Mike Gatz drove Ramos in with a grounder to third base. Swinging at the first pitch, Seth Hudson roped a two-out single to right filed, extending the lead, 2-0.
De Anza (7-14, 2-4) tied the game up in the top of the second with the help of a Ram error and two-out triple, but a base running mistake got Gavilan starter Eric Groner out of the inning.
Groner pitched five innings for the Rams, but was replaced by Jeff Harter in the sixth, with four fielding errors spread across the second, third, fourth and fifth innings and all four with two outs extended innings for the Dons and they took advantage, especially in the fifth.
Leading the Rams, 4-3, in the top of the fifth with two-outs the Dons batters drove in four runs. Cody Guarnera belted a homerun off of Groner to left-center field, 5-3. Mike Raushnot got walked and Will Everson singled to put two runners on for Travis Lazar, who jacked a three-run homerun to left field, 8-4.
“We didn’t make the plays in the middle of the game,” said Rams coach Neal Andrade. “We weren’t getting the clutch hits today, we seemed to have quite a few runners on early, but we stranded them. Hitting is contagious and so is fielding. We had a couple of errors and kind of tossed it around the infield.”
To make matter worse for both the Rams and the Dons, the homeplate umpire for the game was wildly inconsistent through the early innings and by the top of the third, DeAnza head coach Scott Hertler had seen enough. After making his displeasure with the umpire known through the second inning, Hertler received an early exit in the third.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” yelled Hertler after a called strike on his batter. “You’re doing a terrible job. Throwing me out was the best call you’ve made all day!”
Gavilan tried chipping away at the four-run Don lead and added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Ruiz got an RBI single off the diving second baseman’s glove. The Rams would get no closer as De Anza brought in funky sidearm thrower Byrce Parker to finish out the game.
Harter pitched four innings of shutout ball for Gavilan and the Ram batters didn’t have trouble connecting with the ball with 10 hits in the game, including four batter with multiple hits. Ruiz went 3-for-five in the game, Hudson went 2-for-4 and Ramos and Scott Mead both went 2-for-5.
“All in all I thought we hit the ball better,” said Andrade. “Jeff Harter came in and gave us a chance to comeback, but it’s tough to comeback when you’re four, five or six runs down. We swung the bats well and we’re competing, which is good. The program is going in the right direction. These guys are working hard.”
Gavilan returns to the field today in San Jose when they take on San Jose City College at 5pm. The Rams return home on Monday to play their make-up game with Hartnell at 2pm.
