ARC baseball finally avoids the rain

After several games had been canceled due to rain, ARC was looking to keep their three-game winning streak going. At 6-4,the ARC Beavers opened up a three game series against the 7-4 Jaguars of San Jose City College at Beaver Field on Thursday, Feb. 19. Sophomore pitcher Luke Vaughn was still looking for his first win of the season. However, costly errors in the second inning led to two early runs to make it 2-0 San Jose. In the third inning, three more runs would come in for San Jose courtesy of center fielder Daniel Nelson, shortstop Greg Fujii, and designated hitter Gino Valletta, who went 3-5 on the day. After giving up five runs and eight hits in three innings of work, Vaughn was replaced by Steve Crew. Nevertheless, the Jaguars would continue to do damage with their bats as Crew allowed four more runs, including a Travis Molina solo home run to make it 9-0 San Jose.

"I'm just not impressed at all," said freshman second baseman Andrew Richmond who went 2-4,referring to their performance, "I'm just disappointed that we didn't play better."

Richmond adds, "We need to come out with intensity and to stay focused (for out next game)."

Andrew Graham, Zander Zeisler, and Chacot Duncan would pitch the rest of the way for ARC and would allow four more hits, but no more runs from the Jaguars. In the end, it was the bats of the Beavers that would fall silent as San Jose City College cruised to victory 9-0.The Jaguars collected 14 hits in the game, the Beavers accumulated just six with runners in scoring position left stranded. With the win, San Jose improved to 8-4 while American River fell to 6-5 on the season.

Nick Loredo pitched for seven innings allowing only five hits to pick up his second victory on the year for San Jose. Third baseman Justin Lagman went 3-5 and second baseman Zach Canez went 2-5. For The Beavers, right fielder Jameel Zideah went 2-2, third baseman Kody Curtis went 1-3, and left fielder Kevin Finklea went 1-3.

The next game took place on Friday, Feb. 20. The Beavers did find their way into the run column, but The Jaguars would win 7-5.For San Jose City College, Greg Fujii went 2-4, catcher Greg Itatani went 2-5. Don Medlinger pitched 6 innings, but Harold Zosel picked up the win. For the Beavers, Jameel Zideah went 2-4, third baseman Luke Gadow went 1-3, and catcher Mike Keegan went 1-4. Travis Meza was the losing pitcher in this contest.

The final game of this series was on Saturday, Feb. 21, the Beavers found their stride and offered its best starting pitching of the year as Kevin Powell pitched 6 1/3 innings and had a no-hitter going through 5 1/3 innings. Chacot Duncan would earn his first collegiate save as he closed out the 7-6 win to keep the Jaguars from sweeping the series. With the win, ARC improved to 7-6 on the season. For ARC, designated hitter Matt Hutchins went 3-4,catcher Kyle Sanders went 2-3, and center fielder Mychal Harris went 2-4 while Zander Zeisler picks up the win in relief. For San Jose, Justin Lagman went 2-4,Gino Valletta went 1-3,and left fielder Andrew Castaneda went 1-4.Jakob Zamora was the losing pitcher.

The Beavers' next home game will be on March 3 against Cosumnes River College.