The 2010 season for the Yuba College baseball has been all over the place, going from triumphant wins to disastrous losses, and worse yet, a brawl that saw the team forfeit a game. Early season non-conference losses to Butte College, Santa Rosa College and Feather River College set the tone for the early portion of the season, several losses being of the excruciating 1-run variety. Several of the losses have been because of silly errors, from passed balls to infield errors, while other losses have seen the team just out-hit and muscled around by top teams like Solano and Mendocino. The team never could get the ball rolling, and as such, didn’t win more than three games in a row during the season, as they now sit in 6th place in the conference, with only Napa Valley and Contra Costa behind them with worse conference records.
Something could be said about the team’s performance; the team as a whole has only hit 104 runs, next to last in the conference, an average of 5.2 runs per game. As a comparison, Solano has hit a total of 198 runs this season, an average of 9.4 runs per game, a difference of 4.2 runs per game!
On the other extreme, the bullpen has been very good, allowing only 105 runs, compared to 100 for Solano, who sits in first place in the Bay Valley Conference. Other team stats are mixed; varying from Chris Pope holding an ERA of 0.45 in 20 innings, while constant starter Matt Vedo has an ERA of 2.41, despite a 3-6 record. On the offensive end, Brian Garcia is leading the team in runs and walks, while Eric Underwood has hit a total of 4 home runs, leading the team. Lots of work needs to be done, needless to say, and now all eyes now certainly turn towards next season, where the team can again begin make a run to the playoffs.
OTHER NOTES: Yuba opened with three straight losses, but rebounded with two straight against Lassen in a doubleheader. They’d then drp three straight to Feather River College in non conference play, the third game being a 6-2 thrashing that saw the team out-hit 13-5. The team would rebound with a win over Redwoods, and then open conference play with a win over Napa Valley, 6-1. They’d then get their first three game winning streak started with a in over Los Medanos, and then make it four in a row with a 13-2 win over Contra Costa. The Niners wouldn’t make it five in a row, as they’d lose their next game to Solano, which was followed up with another loss to Mendocino. The 49ers would quickly come back with a 10-1 trashing of Laney, but would drop their next two to Marin and Napa Valley. Their season got out of hand during a recent game against Los Medanos, as after a one run loss, the two teams got into a brawl that caused both teams to be suspended for a game, and worse yet, placed the team in a lower seed going into the Bay Valley Conference tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by Marin, losing in another one-run game, 9-8.
Chris Carpenter is the Print Editor for The Prospector, and is a full-time student at Yuba College, majoring in Mass Communications. Outside of the newspaper, he is an avid writer, and watches tons of Japanese wrestling (and CHIKARA, the US equivalent of Lucha Libre). He can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/antonio_DAMAN.
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