Giants baseball on brink of CVC title following doubleheader sweep of Fresno City
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
The top prize available to College of the Sequoias' baseball team in this coronavirus pandemic-altered season is within reach.
The Giants swept a home doubleheader against Fresno City College on May 15 to build a five-game lead in the Central Valley Conference championship race.
Sequoias (16-4 overall, 15-3 conference) needs only one win in its six remaining conference games to clinch at least a tie for the program's first CVC title since 2014. Second-place Merced is 10-8, followed by Fresno City and Reedley (9-9) and Taft (1-15).
Capturing a conference title is the loftiest goal to achieve for the 52 baseball programs that opted to compete in the delayed and shortened 2021 season after the California Community College Athletic Association canceled regional and state playoffs in all sports for the 2020-2021 school year because of Covid-19 safety precautions.
The Giants, who are ranked No. 3 in the state by the California Community College Sports Information Association behind No. 1 Orange Coast (16-3-1) and No. 2 Butte (15-3), put themselves on the brink of winning the CVC crown with a 8-5 win over the Rams (11-9 overall) in the second game of the doubleheader.
Andrew Valdez (El Diamante High) got Sequoias rolling with a two-run home run -- his seventh of the season -- in the bottom of the first inning.
Flavio Perez Jr. (Hanford) gave the Giants a 3-1 lead in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
Sequoias broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning highlighted by a two-run single from Elijah Cortez (Central-Fresno). Payton Allen (Golden West) singled in a run and Perez doubled in a run in the seventh for Sequoias.
Allen finished with three hits to lead the Giants.
Riley Creech (El Diamante) earned the win by allowing one earned run on four hits over five innings.
Former Redwood standout Jace Chamberlin hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Fresno City, but Giants closer James Freisen (Immanuel-Reedley) rebounded by getting the final out on a pop up to second.
In the first game, Michael McKernan hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to send Sequoias to a walk-off, 13-3 victory over the Rams in eight innings.
McKernan's homer capped a seven-run eight inning outburst that also included an RBI groundout by Donte Valdez (Redwood), RBI doubles by Cortez and Benjamin Pedersen (Tulare Union) and a two-run single by T.J. Martinez (Tulare Western).
McKernan also had a two-run single in the seventh.
Sequoias opened a 1-0 lead in the first on Cortez' RBI single, and pushed the lead to 2-0 in the second as Allen delivered an RBI single.
The Giants made it 4-1 in the fifth as Cortez hit an RBI single and Nate Gilson (El Diamante) added a run-scoring ground out.
Sequoias erupted for 19 hits, including three apiece by Cortez, Perez and Pedersen.
Jaylen Rodriguez (Redwood) earned the win after giving up three earned runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. Anthony Torres (Exeter) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Rodriguez.
Sequoias returns to action at 2 p.m. May 18 when it hosts Taft (1-19 overall). The Giants also play at Taft at 2 p.m. May 19.
The week will also feature a home doubleheader against Reedley (12-10 overall) on May 21. Games are scheduled for noon and 3 p.m.
