Huntington Beach, Calif. - Another hitting parade pays off for the Rustlers as they beat Pasadena City 12-8 on Tuesday.
Coming off of a weekend doubleheader against Santa Barbara, Golden West called for a bullpen game. Matt Gaunt was the first to make an appearance on the mound, facing 10 batters. Through two innings, Gaunt gave up two hits, two runs (one unearned), and retired four. Dante Jackson and James Englehart took over the next two innings before handing the ball over to winning pitcher Marco Ibarra. Before the game was over, Pasadena saw a dominant performance from Thomas Howard, who struck out three of the seven batters he faced. Braden Genera then successfully closed out the game for the Rustlers in the ninth inning.
The Lancers found themselves on top through five innings, but the Rustlers did not make it an easy game for them. Every time Pasadena added a run on the scoreboard, so did Golden West, making it a theme to return the favor.
"They did a good job. In the first, second, and fourth inning, Pasadena scored and we answered back each time in the bottom half of that inning," Head Coach Andrew Ramos said. "We never took the lead or tied with those runs that we scored, but we did answer back and that's huge for momentum's sake."
Bats were hot for a number of guys, especially DJ McEvers (three hits, one RBI), Steven Casas (three hits, three RBI), and Gunnar Magrann (one hit, four RBI).
Fielding continues to be an area for improvement for the Rustlers after three errors allowed the Lancers to increase their lead early in the game.
"It's frustrating because I really do believe that we're a good defensive team, [but] we haven't shown that consistently," Ramos said. "We do a lot of work with our infielders, but for whatever reason we haven't put it together quite yet in game. It's something that we're gonna continue to work on."
NEXT: Golden West will play LA Pierce at 2 p.m. Thursday at home. This will be the first of a two game series, both to be played at The Hoov.
Written By Marissa Lavezzari
