Rawhide Plate Five Runs in Final Three Innings and Hang on for 6-5 Win
April 12, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
Visalia Rawhide News Release
SAN JOSE, CA - Visalia (4-0, 4-0) again notched a come-from-behind victory, this time with three in the seventh and two more in the eighth to hang on to a 6-5 win over San Jose (1-1, 1-1) on Monday night at Municipal Stadium.
A game that saw five lead changes was contested on both sides of the diamond right up until the final strike was thrown by LHP Zac Curtis (SV: 2) to 3B Jose Vizcaino Jr. ending the ball game.
RHP Lucas Irvine made his season debut and through act one of the ball game allowed only one hit to a sluggish San Jose offense that was coming off three consecutive postponements.
Visalia took advantage of a gift in the top of the second. After 1B Cody Regis singled and stole second base. 3B Dawel Lugo reached on an error, one of three committed by San Jose in the loss, that also allowed Regis to move to third. C Tyler Baker earned his first RBI of the season with a sacrifice bunt and the Rawhide had the early 1-0 advantage.
Irvine hit a bump in the fourth frame when RF Steven Duggar led off with a solo home run to tie the game. A walk, a hit batsman, an RBI double and an RBI single later it was 3-1 San Jose heading to the fifth.
Both Irvine and Giants starter LHP D.J. Snelton threw five innings. Irvine was outstanding other than the fourth inning and finished allowing only four hits, the three runs, he walked two and struck out five. Snelton allowed four hits but just the one run, a walk and he struck out five but neither factored in the final decision.
Once again it became a battle of the bullpens and once again Visalia came out on top. The Rawhide banged up RHP pat Young for two runs in a three-run seventh inning. With two on and one out the Giants went to the bullpen again and brought in LHP Carlos Diaz, who immediately relinquished three straight RBI singles that gave Visalia a 4-3 lead. Two of the runs were charged to Young, who finished having pitched 1.1 innings and was credited with giving up two runs on one hit, three walks and he struck out one. Diaz was not much better, lasting only .2 innings and giving up the go ahead run on three hits.
RHP Bud Jeter (2-0, 2.70), in his second inning of relief, allowed a solo, game tying home run to DH Jonah Arenado and we were tied 4-4. The run allowed by Jeter was the first run the Visalia bullpen had allowed all season long.
RHP Jeff Soptic (0-1, 27.00) entered to begin the eighth but didn't survive the inning after a Regis triple, a walk and two wild pitches combined with a RF Victor Reyes RBI single that pushed the lead to 6-4 Visalia. RHP Jose Reyes cleaned up the mess and then pitched a scoreless ninth.
Curtis entered in the home half of the ninth to put the ballgame away. After a 2B Brandon Bednar lead-off single, Curtis picked up a strikeout and then allowed an infield single. SS C.J. Hinosa hit a ball off the glove of SS Domingo Leyba that brought home Bednar to cut the lead to 6-5 Visalia and after a foul out he walked C Aramis Garcia to load the bases.
Vizcaino Jr. took the count full with two outs and the bases loaded with San Jose trailing by a run but Curtis showed his grit y striking out Vizcaino to save the ballgame for Jeter and push the Rawhide record to 4-0.
Tomorrow night is game two of the series from the Silicon Valley and RHP Ethan Elias (0-0, 0.00) will officially make his season debut against RHP Jordan Johnson (0-0, 0.00) who will likewise make his season debut. First pitch at 6:30 p.m. again tomorrow as Visalia goes the series victory.  Â
The Visalia Rawhide will officially begin their 70th consecutive season of baseball in Visalia with the home opener on Thursday, April 14th vs. Bakersfield at Recreation Ballpark with a 7:00 PM first pitch. Tickets and group packages are on sale now! Call the ticket office at 559-732-4433 or head to rawhidebaseball.com for tickets and more information!
California League Stories from April 12, 2016
- Visalia Comes Home to Celebrate 70 Years of Baseball - Visalia Rawhide
- Quakes Outduel Winless 66ers 2-1 - Inland Empire 66ers
- Rawhide Announce Local "Play Ball" Initiative - Visalia Rawhide
- JetHawks Soar Late as Ports Fall 10-5 - Stockton Ports
- Big Seventh Gives JetHawks First Win - Lancaster JetHawks
- Nuts Surrender Late Lead in 8-7 Loss - Modesto Nuts
- Blaze Squeeze Nuts in 11-Inning Walkoff - Bakersfield Blaze
- Rawhide Plate Five Runs in Final Three Innings and Hang on for 6-5 Win - Visalia Rawhide
- CCAA Baseball Championship Tickets Now Available - Stockton Ports
- Giants Suffer 6-5 Loss to Rawhide - San Jose Giants
- Quakes Edge Sixers on Monday - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
