The Giants Drop Series versus Merced

The Giants opened the series against Merced College at home. After 2 innings of play, the Merced Blue Devils were up 1-0. The 3rd inning is when the Giants offense woke up as they scored a total of 6 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning. The contributors included: Kaleb Castanon (El Diamante HS) with a RBI single, Benjamin Rodriguez (Tulare Western HS) added a RBI double, Jesse Ortega (Dinuba HS) had a 2-run double, Isaiah Munoz (Clovis North HS) added a RBI double, and Diego Sanchez (Bakersfield Christian HS) tacked on a sacrifice fly. After the 3rd inning, the Giants never looked back as the won the game 8-2. Keine Prendez (Dinuba HS) was effective on the mound as he was the winning pitcher, only allowed 2 runs through 7 innings. Javier Altamirano (Mt. Whitney HS) came in relief and only allowed 1 hit over 2 innings of work.  

In the second game of the 3-game series, Alex Hernandez was the starting pitcher. He gave up 3 runs over 6 innings and had 5 strikeouts. Merced had a 3 run lead heading into the 8th inning. The Giants gave it all they had and fell just short as Alex Lopez (Golden West HS) hit a 2-run Home Run top of the 8th inning, as they lose 3-2. 

In the series finale against Merced College, COS lost 16-3 as they had back-to-back Home Runs from Benjamin Rodriguez and Jesse Ortega. Kanani Judd-Au (Kahuku, HI) had a good outing as he went 1-for-2 including a double.  

The Giants are now 12-14 (6-8) as they continue Central Valley Conference play.