The 2023 Reedley College baseball team came just short of winning the school's first conference championship in 60 years. The Tigers placed 2nd in Central Valley Conference play after a comeback 11-10 win in the last game vs. West Hills Coalinga.
For their efforts, the Tigers earned a home series in the Northern Cafornia Regionals this weekend and the opponent will be the Feather River College Golden Eagles, the second place finisher in the Golden Valley Conference.
The best-of-three series begins at 2 pm at Tiger Field on Friday, May 5th. The second and third game (if needed) of the series will be on Saturday, May 6th starting at 11am. Reedley is the 12th seed and Feather River is 13th. The winner will face the winner of top seed Santa Rosa (28-10) and 24 seed Lassen (20=18) in the May 11=13 Super Regionals,
It was a wild week for the 27-12-1 year Tigers, just to finish tied with Merced for second place in the Central Valley Conference. It started with a 10-9 win over fourth place Sequoias on April 23. Then came an 18-3 win over Porterville on April 25, a 10-2 loss at Merced on April 27 and a come from behind 11-10 win at West Hills Coalinga on April 28. Reedley trailed in that one 8-1 after five innings. Brody Block's single scored Mike Rios with what proved to be the game winner to take a winning pitcher out of Elijah Acosta, who improved to 4-0 on the season in the win over Sequoias. Acosta picked up his eigth save, while Ryan Garza improved to 6-3. Will Gagnon allowed one run in five innings to improve to 6-1 on the season and Block finished with three hits. Acosta led the conference in saves with nine, Trevino batted an even .400 on the season while Block was right behind at .386: good for third in the CVC. Trevino was second in the CVC for RBI's with 46, while Orin Hirchkorn was second in home runs with seven. Garza was fifth in wins and in earned run aveeage. He recently signed a letter of intent to pitch at San Francisco State. Garza was second in strikeout behind Nate Galvan of Fresno City, while Gagnon was third with 72.
Come on out to support our Tigers this Friday. CCCAA Playoff ticket prices are set by the association at $12 general admission & $8 for students, faculty, staff, Seniors 60 & over, and Children under 12 yrs of age.
GO TIGERS!
By Will Goldbeck.