It was quite a week for the Reedley College Tiger baseball team, as they opened Central Valley Conference action with three wins over a struggling Porterville College Pirate squad.
The Tigers outscored Porterville by a combined score of 46-3. All three contests were played in Reedley as Porterville's field was unplayable due to the wet weather.
Reedley opened the week with a 6-2 win over the 1-19 Pirates on March 5 before an 18-1 triumph on Thursday. The Tigers improved to 6-12 on the season with a 22-0 win on Saturday.
In the opener, Reedley broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. A two-out single by Tony Riley drove in Mitch Silvas with the go-ahead run. The Tigers added two unearned runs in the eighth inning. Blake Costa allowed one run in five innings of relief to record the pitching win in relief of starter Tanner Lee.
As the visiting team on the scoreboard, the Tigers erupted for eight runs in the top half of the first inning of Thursday's 18-1 win. In what was Reedley's best pitching performance of the season, Peyton McNair threw six shutout innings and struck out 10 to get the win.
Deagan Risnes, Nick Martinez and Josh Mares all hit home runs for the Tigers. Risnes hit a three-run shot in the second and also added a pair of doubles. Martinez led off the fifth with his homer and he added a pair of singles. Mares finished his three-hit day with a two-run homer in the eighth. Mitchell Crawford finished the day with three singles.
Alex Escobar, Dominic Scotti, Dylan Kent and Eric Montelongo combined for a six-hit shutout on Saturday. Escobar allowed five hits in six innings to improve to 2-3 on the season.
Offensively, Reedley finished with 22 hits. Mitch Silvas got things started with a two-run homer in a four-run first before leadoff hitter Risnes started a seven-run second inning rally with a home run over the left field fence.
Henry Degnan and Crawford both had three hits on the day while Gabe Grijalva, Alex Ortiz, Tristen Bumutay, Risnes and Riley all added two hits.
In the three-game series, Reedley batted .383 as they recorded 49 hits in 128 official at bats.
The sweep placed the Tigers in a tie with College of the Sequoias for the conference lead as the Giants swept West Hills Coalinga.
The competition will get tougher this week as the Tigers face Fresno City (2-1, 13-6) in a three-game series. Action started Tuesday night in Fresno before a 6 p.m. Thursday contest in Reedley and a 1 p.m. game in Fresno on Saturday. After facing the Rams, Reedley travels to Taft College on Tuesday, March 19 at 1 p.m.
By Will Goldbeck