Balls continue to fly out of Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field, and that's just fine with Pasadena City College baseball head coach Pat McGee--as long as it's his squad doing the slugging. The Lancers reached 10 team home runs in 10 games on Thursday as Patrick Garcia launched his fifth and Tommy Castillo ripped his first as part of his 4-for-4 day in PCC's 12-1 rout over West Los Angeles.
Castillo, the team's leadoff hitter and a transfer centerfielder from Long Beach State, hit opposite field, RBI singles in the second, fourth and fifth innings, then bombed a drive over the centerfield wall in the seventh. He led off the bottom of the first by getting hit by a pitch and then scoring the team's first run on a RBI groundout by third baseman Toshiki Kuriya.
Garcia is on a binge rarely seen by a Lancers hitter this century. The giant 6-foot-4 sophomore transfer from Guadalajara, Mexico flexed his strength again with a 2-run blast over the CF fence in the first. That gives him four dingers in the last five games alone. He took over the team's batting lead with a .448 average and his Judgesque slugging percentage of 1.138 now leads the state. His five home runs has him tied for second the state's power list.
In the fifth, Garcia nearly hit his sixth, but West LA centerfielder Justin Baldwin robbed him of the homer with a leaping catch. Garcia settled for a sacrifice fly for his efforts.
"Patrick's ability to give us automatic offense with his power has a great effect on the rest of our hitters," McGee said. "Today, Castillo had a big day and it starts with us manufacturing that first run and then Patrick's bomb giving us a 3-0 lead. When you get ahead early, the confidence level of the team goes up. That's common in any sport, and it's been a big part of why we've been playing well the past few weeks."
Winners of six of their last seven games, the Lancers (7-3 overall) have scored in double figures in five contests and their 17 hits v. WLAC are a team season-high.
Freshman second baseman Amaris Harrison was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored while his older brother and letterman leftfielder Aryonis Harrison went 2-for-4 with two runs and a walk. Rightfielder Jakob Guardado stroked a 3-rund double in the team's 5-run, fourth inning.
Even seldom-used reserves Isaiah Cruz and Evan Coad collected their first collegiate hits late in the contest.
Starting pitcher Coleman Mitchell improved to 3-0 by tossing six shutout innings, allowing just four hits, two walks and striking out two. After Nathan Mertens pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless ball, West LA broke up the shutout in the ninth, but closer Rider Gardner entered the game and immediately recorded the final out.
PCC will host WLAC again on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 12 noon. Scheduled originally as a road game for the Lancers, poor field conditions at West LA forced a change of venue.