Four walk-off baseball wins in the Central Valley By Cherie Smith The last two days, Friday and Saturday, February 7 and 8 have consisted of four walk-off wins in baseball in the Central Valley. Reedley College, Fresno Pacific University, Fresno City College, and Taft College all had walk-off wins. There was a walk-off single, wild pitch, double, and sacrifice bunt. Three of the winning pitchers pitched four or more innings in relief. Three of the games were on Friday in the rain and those teams were playing doubleheaders. Reedley College hosted Golden West College Friday afternoon on February 7. It was part of the College of the Sequoias Tournament. Reedley scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the ninth, Reedley’s Jarod Chiasson came in to pitch and gave up a run to tie the game at one. In the bottom of the twelfth inning, Reedley’s Mark Trujillo singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. Satchel Goodwin had a walk-off single to score Trujillo and win the game. Reedley’s Mark Trujillo went 3 for 6 with a run scored. Satchel Goodwin went 1 for 6 with an RBI. Nick Pate went 2 for 4 with a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI. Chiasson pitched the final four innings, gave up six hits, one earned run, two walks, five strike outs, and got the win. That was Reedley’s first game of their doubleheader. They went on to play College of Marin in the evening and won 9-0. The second walk-off win of the day was Fresno Pacific University. They were hosting Cal State Stanislaus. The first run of the game was scored by Stanislaus in the top of the first. In the bottom of the third inning the bases were loaded after Baron Bower walked, Michael Hostetler doubled, and Kaohu Gasper walked. Then Joshua Banuelos hit a bases clearing double. In the top of the sixth Stanislaus scored four runs to give them a 5-3 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Hostetler was hit by a pitch, Banuelos singled, and with two out Hostetler scored. Nico Payan pinch ran and then scored the tying run on a wild pitch. McKay France scored the walk-off run on a wild pitch. Hostetler went 1 for 3 with a walk, hit by pitch, double, and two runs scored. Gaspar went 1 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. Banuelos went 3 for 4 with a walk, double, and three RBIs. Eian Raeber pitched the top of the ninth, walked one, struck out one, and got the win. It was Fresno Pacific’s second game of their doubleheader and it ended late in the night. They had won 8-4 over Cal State Stanislaus earlier on Friday. The third walk-off win was at Fresno City College. They were hosting Sacramento City College. Sacramento scored runs in the first, fourth, and fifth. In the bottom of the fourth, Fresno City scored two runs. After five innings of play Sacramento led 3-2. In the eighth, another run was scored by Fresno City. In the ninth, Fresno City’s Anthony Hawkins walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Ryne Dean hit a walk-off double to score Hawkins.
Hawkins went 1 for 3 with a walk, RBI, and a run scored. Dean went 1 for 4 with a double and a RBI. James Brager pitched the final four and third innings, gave up a hit, two walks, six strikeouts, and got the win. This was their second game of their doubleheader and this game did not end till after midnight. Fresno City lost the first game 5-1. The final walk-off game of the weekend was Saturday, February 8 with Taft College hosting Barstow College. Both teams went back and forth scoring through the first seven innings. Both teams hit home runs. After seven innings the teams were tied at 5. The next four innings neither team could score. In the bottom of the twelfth inning, Taft’s Travis Tessandori singled with one out, moved to second on a passed ball, and moved to third on a wild pitch. Roman Testani had a walk off sacrifice bunt to score Tessaandori. This was their only game on Saturday. Tessandori went 1 for 3 with two walks and two runs scored. Testani went 1 for 5 with a sacrifice bunt, RBI, and a run scored. Chris Hopballe went 3 for 4 with a walk, home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Nick Risucci pitched the final five innings for Taft giving up two hits, two walks, five strike outs, and got the win. We will have to wait and see what this next week holds for walk-off wins in baseball.