2008 Woodie Awards
Pirates crush Sequoias 14-2
Andrew Shrader
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Sports
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Spring is officially in season. It's time for sunshine, baseball, and good weather right?
Wrong.
For the past two weeks, several sporting events around the Central Valley have been affected by the continuous rain.
Almost every Modesto Junior College spring athletic team has had to postpone games, matches, and even swim meets due to the downpour.
The Pirate's baseball team has been the most common victim from the terrible weather-four of their most recent games have been postponed due to the excess of rain and flooded fields.
Despite the fact that they've had several important games canceled due to rain, the MJC baseball team has maintained their momentum in the Central Valley Conference with a 12-3 record, 19-6 overall.
On Sunday, March 26, Modesto lost 5-3 to Porterville Junior College (6-8 CVC, 15-11). With the loss, MJC dropped into a first place tie with rival Fresno City but were able to recover in their next two games.
On Tuesday, March 28, the Pirates were scheduled to take on lowly Taft Junior College (5-9 CVC, 10-16), but the thunderous rainstorm struck again and the game was postponed until Sunday, April 3 at Modesto Junior College.
On Thursday, March 30, the College of Sequoias brought their 15-10 overall record to the diamond at MJC for a mid-season conference game.
Although Sequoias only boasted a 5-7 Central Valley Conference record entering the game, they were known to be a scrappy and often pesky baseball team. Not even halfway through game did the Pirates put an end to those talks. The end result of the game was 14-2 in favor of the hometown Pirates. MJC hitters pounded out 17 hits in the victory and kept pouring runs on the weak Sequoias pitching staff.
The Pirates continued their season long offensive success in the defeat and upped their CVC record to 11-3, and an overall record of 18-6. In the second game of weekend series with College of Sequoias, the raindrops again caused both teams to wait for a later date to take the field against each other.
It was April Fool's Day, and it was the third game in the last week that the Pirate's were forced to postpone. You've got to be fooling me right? Wrong. There is no word yet on when these crucial Central Valley Conference games are supposed to be rescheduled but in the mean time, the Pirates welcomed a familiar foe to their field on Sunday, April 3. Modesto completely demolished Taft Junior College for the third time this season in their 8-0 win.
Freshman ace, Micah Spencer, pitched a complete game shutout and a career high 13 strikeouts. Sophomore center fielder Blake Amador lined three hits with three runs batted in and sophomore catcher Jake Long also went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Pirate hitters tallied 11 total hits upping their season total to nearly 300. Freshman Kyle Loretelli chipped in an RBI single, and sophomore right fielder Brian Boyd had a two-run single as well. The win improved Spencer's pitching record to 4-0 on the year with a 2.09 earned run average.
He also leads the team in strikeouts with 60. As a team, Modesto has a stellar batting average of .312, and an On-Base-Percentage of .416.
On Tuesday, April 4, it was the same old story once again as the rain soaked the field at MJC. The game between the Pirates and the Blue Devils from Merced Junior College was postponed for a date to be determined. The game between MJC and Merced JC will be interesting because the Pirate's will bring their 12-3 CVC record against the Blue Devil's 11-5 CVC record.
Modesto's Jake Long is the fourth leading hitter in the Central Valley Conference with a .400 batting average, 22 RBI's, and an amazing On-Base-Percentage of .540.
Left fielder and lead-off hitter Travon Jackson is also in the conference's top ten batting averages with a .394 average and 36 hits, 32 runs, and 12 RBI's.
MJC's next scheduled game, weather permitting, is on Thursday, April 6, at Merced Junior College at 2:00 P.M. The Pirates then travel to West Hills (6-7 CVC, 11-14) on April 8, and finally come home West Hills on Tuesday, April 18 at 2 P.M.