A perfect 4-0 week ended on Sunday afternoon for the Reedley College baseball team.

Tigers Beat FCC 4-3 at Chukchansi Park

The Sunday contest started as a pitcher's duel between Reedley's Nick Ohman and the Tiger bullpen and regular FCC reliever Jacob Fragus. Tiger outfielder Kam Bowen hit a two-run homer to open the scoring in the sixth. Reedley added another run in the seventh. Fresno's McGuire Smith tied the score in the eighth before Simental's ninth inning heroics.

Simental led off the ninth with his second single of the game before getting to third on sacrifice bunts by Mark-Anthony Carroll and number three hitter Andrew Mora. Tyler Tuckness was at the plate when Ram reliever Michael Klein, who leads FCC in saves with six, threw the pitch that started the Tiger celebration.

Sanger's Ricky Simentel scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday in front of 627 fans at Fresno's Chukchansi Park in the fourth annual State Center Baseball Classic.

It was the Tigers' Classic victory.  Unfortunately, it was a non-conference game as FCC holds a four-game lead over Reedley in the Central Valley Conference standings. 

Reedley (16-12 and unranked) holds a one-game lead over Merced in the conference and the two teams face each other this week. The series in Reedley (weather permitting) on Tuesday, March 1 before switching to Merced on Thursday before returning to Reedley for a 1 pm game on Saturday. Next Tuesday, the Tigers head to fifth place Taft. The top two teams are guaranteed a spot in the Nor Cal Regional playoffs.

"We are starting to play better," said a happy Tiger head coach Steve Pearce via text after the game. "Our young kids are more experienced in handling different aspects that come in the game. We are pitching and are playing better defense and have gained some confidence in the last three weeks."

Tigers Sweep Porterville

Sophomore Francisco Espejo continued his superb pitching on March 25, improving his season record to 5-0 and lowering his conference-best earned run average to 2.34, allowing two earned runs in a 7-2 win over Porterville. Mark-Anthony Carroll led the Reedley attack with three hits.

Two days later in Reedley, Keine Prendez allowed four hits in six shutout innings and the Tigers exploded for 17 hits in a 19-0 win over Pirates. Eli Garay blasted a home run as every Tiger starter had at least one hit in the big hit. Camden Chavez recorded two triples for Reedley.

But two days later in Porterville, the Tigers scratched out a 2-1 win over PC. Tyler Tuckness drove in the eventual winning run with a sixth inning sacrifice fly.

Case Anker, bounced back fo form by allowing one run in six innings. Kaden Welch recorded the win, improving to 4-1 while Nolan Keene picked up the save.

By Will Goldbeck