Ask Pasadena City College baseball head coach Pat McGee who will be on the mound early in the 2022 season and the response will likely be a one word answer--"staff." Staff meaning if you have pitcher listed as your position on the roster, there's a good chance you could be throwing next. On Thursday, the staff did its job admirably as four Lancers hurlers combined for a 2-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over Pierce.
The win marked the first home game in nearly two years for the Lancers at PCC's off-campus diamond--Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Memorial Field. Pasadena stayed undefeated at 3-0 in the first game of the SoCal Challenge Tournament. PCC hosts Irvine Valley on Friday in a 2 p.m. first pitch.
Starting righthander Jakob Guardado (three innings, one hit) and relievers Nicolas Day (two innings, one hit, earned the win), Rider Gardner (two innings, three Ks), and Nathan Mertens (two innings, no hits) were outstanding in keeping Pierce from crossing the plate. They stranded eight baserunners overall.
"Pitchers will discover the more you pound the strikezone, the more successful you will be at this level," McGee said. "We chart first-pitch strikes and the goal is to get ahead early in counts and avoid giving up free passes. We have a pretty good defense, so naturally if our pitchers can do their jobs, then it's up to our fielders to back them up. The four guys we threw today really did well at making those first-pitch strikes."
PCC's offense was slow to get the team runs as Pierce starter Collin Mitchell kept the game scoreless after four innings. In the bottom of the fifth, second baseman Andrew Scannell led off with a walk, followed by a single to left by Guardado (the designated hitter). After catcher Matt Rice moved the runners over on a sacrifice bunt, leftfielder Aryonis Harrison slapped a grounder to short. Pierce shortstop Ivan Castillo tried valiantly to cut the runner off at home but Scannell just got under the catcher's tag for a RBI fielder's choice and a 1-0 PCC lead.
Centerfielder Max Blessinger just beat the throw to first on a potential double play grounder from third to second that earned Blessinger a fielder's choice RBI. That allowed third baseman Marco Martinez to launch a booming RBI double to left-center for a 3-0 lead.
Shortstop Raider Tello helped the Lancers cause by going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Defensively, Harrison made a couple of gold glove plays including a race into foul territory to make a sliding catch in the third and then and over-the-shoulder grab on a long fly ball hit by Victor Pico in the fifth.
In that same frame, Day had runners on second and third following a PCC error, but got out of the jam by getting a foul popup to third. Day picked off a runner at first in the fourth after giving up a 1-out single. In the sixth, Gardner had runners on first and second but struck out a Brahmas batter to end that threat. In the eighth, Pierce had a runner on third and two outs, but Mertens induced a ground out to Tello to preserve the shutout. Mertens pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close the "staff" shutout.
MORE PHOTOS BELOW
Nicolas Day with the pick-off throw to first baseman Jake Trabbie.
Starter Jakob Guardado delivers a pitch.
