John Spirk at bat for GWC against LA Valley
By Nick Roettiger
Western Sun staff writer
The Rustlers baseball team managed a 9-6 victory over LA Valley College at home last Saturday, Feb. 20, thanks to strong pitching and homeruns by AJ Bayus and John Spirk.
The victory was sealed by Golden West College at the top of the ninth inning with closing pitcher Brian Raines knocking out three batters in successive fashion.
After an offensive eighth inning from both teams, GWC countered LA Valley’s two runs with a final run of their own that set Raines up for the win.
Many athletes may say that a win is a win, but the team doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about how they plan to set the pace for the rest of the season.
AJ Bayus explains “Yeah, we won, but we let these guys stick around way too long. It never should have gotten as close as it did.”
By the eighth inning, LA Valley had stepped up their game and managed to bat in three more runs against Golden West fielders at the top of the inning, and then allowed Golden West only one more run before ending the inning with a double play.
“[The game] got too close,” says centerfielder Jordan Tripp, “But Raines was able to shut it down right when we needed him to.”
The game was a little too close for comfort especially with a bad start. An error at the top of the first inning and a failed attempt to steal third at the bottom proved the GWC men hadn’t quite yet gotten into their rhythm.
The loss of rhythm did not last long as the Rustlers turned the game into a homerun derby as John Spirk sent a two-run homer over the right field fence.
His hit is immediately followed by yet another homerun, delivered by third baseman AJ Bayus.
After another RBI, and going through almost the entire batting order, Golden West finished out the fourth inning with a 6-1 lead over LA Valley.
After a scoreless fifth inning, a pitching error on the Rustlers and a balk called on The Valley’s pitcher shortly thereafter, each team pulls in two more runs over the sixth and seventh innings.
GWC baseball finishes the month of February with two games against College of the Canyons here at home, Thursday, Feb. 25 and at Canyons’ field on Feb. 27.
