Injuries Hurting Yuba Baseball

On April 14, the 49ers (9-17, 5-11) defeated Los Medanos 18-9. As a team, Yuba had 19 hits.

Will Meier was the winning pitcher, pitching six and allowing two runs, striking out six.

Dino Gellepes was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Frank Avilla and Neil Holmes each had three hits. Matt Suleski drove in two runs.

However, a depleted Yuba College baseball team played host to Mendocino College (9-16, 4-12) on Tuesday afternoon April 12, losing a Bay Valley Conference game in lopsided fashion, 13-1.

Mendocino started freshman Gregg Buschman, who stifled the bats of the injury-ridden 49ers using an array of fastballs and changeups, going 6 strong innings and allowing one run on three hits.

“We were struggling, (Buschman) kept us off-balance,” said Yuba Coach Tim Gloyd.

Starting pitcher Eric Melendez started with an impressive first few innings for the 49ers (8-18, 4-12), retiring the side in order in the first and third inning.

The fourth and sixth inning was a different story. The bats came alive for Mendocino, scoring four in the fourth and two in the fifth.

Melendez inherited the loss going 4 2/3 innings allowing six runs on nine hits and falling to 1-2 on the season.

Suleski, Steve Shaver, and Ryan Mascovich were all out with injuries. Suleski, batting .400 this season, is nursing an ankle injury.

Shaver is batting .367, and could be out for 2-3 weeks. Mascovich is out for the season with a broken wrist, but was batting .385 for the season.

Gellepes batting .333 for the season was out for disciplinary reasons. Gloyd noted that Suleski and Gellepes are both due back in the lineup for their next game.

Gloyd explained, “When you have four of your best hitters out of the lineup, you can’t win at this level.”

Yuba collectively smashed 23 hits on Monday, April 11, but late inning errors let the game slip away, 9-8.

Charles Madden was 3-for-6 with two RBIs. Suleski, Darren DeWeese, Corey Todhunter, Anthony Russo and Avilla had three hits each.

James Thomas threw a complete game on Wednesday afternoon, March 29, catapulting the 49ers (7-13, 3-7) to a Bay Valley Conference win over Solano (7-11, 2-8), 7-2.

Thomas surrendered two runs, one earned on six hits, while striking out four and walking two.

Thomas improved his record to 2-3 with an ERA of 3.69.

Todhunter smashed his second homerun of the season in the fifth-inning, giving Yuba a 3-1 lead.

Yuba busted the game open with a Suleski grand slam in the top-half of the seventh-inning

Yuba bats were alive-and-well accumulating 16 hits. Centerfielder Shaver went 3-for-3 and Avilla had four hits.

Yuba pitcher Gary Kenyon threw seven strong innings, allowing three runs on eight hits on Thursday afternoon, March 31.

Coach Gloyd handed a 6-1 lead over to the bullpen and in what seems to be the story of the season let the lead slip away, losing 9-6.

Delta had a late inning surge scoring four runs in the bottom-half of the seventh and eighth making way for a Bay Valley Conference win.

Suleski’s went 4-for-5, with a double and 3 RBI’s, and Deweese went 3-for-4 while John Garcia was 3-for-5.