Fullerton was coming off a devastating three-game series from Riverside hoping to bounce back with a win. Their opponent, Irvine Valley, was winless in conference play. The Hornets were without their star player, Trevor Schmidt, who was out in a boot with a bone bruise injury. Fullerton was looking to provide the offense and defense from their supporting cast of Nate Pone and Jake Larson.
Irvine Valley College came into the game with an excellent game plan to win 6-0 on April 8. The Laser’s Eastham and Marker were able to limit the Hornet’s offense. Fullerton had ample opportunities in three different innings to capitalize with runners in scoring position.
In the third inning, trailing 1-0, the Hornets had two runners in scoring position with one out and Noah Rodriguez at the plate. Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice. Irvine Valley third baseman Shaun McCaghren was playing even with the bag, trying to cut the runner down at home.
Fullerton’s Diego Vasquez was at third base, running on contact. The Laser’s McCaghren was able to make a perfect throw to catcher Aaron Serrato, who applied the tag on Pone for the second out. Larson walked to load the bases. Dillon Anderson came up with an opportunity to drive in multiple runs. On the first pitch he saw, Anderson flew out to center fielder Sam Tucci.
In the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded. The rally started with Rodriguez falling behind in the count 1-2 before working a walk.
Two of the pitches in his at-bat were called balls off the plate, as Irvine Valley’s Marker tried to hit the outside corner. Another pitch was below Rodriguez’s knees that the umpire was calling a strike all game long, but did not call it. Larson came up to the plate and roped a double past the third baseman into left field for a double to put runners in scoring position for Anderson.
The Hornets dugout was erratic and cheering Anderson on. Head Coach Chad Baum, during the at-bat, told Anderson to stay back on the ball and take it the other way. The Laser’s Marker was throwing outside pitches to Anderson, making him chase. Anderson was able to stay disciplined in his approach after falling behind 0-2 in the count. The next two pitches were thrown on the outside corner, but Anderson did not extend his strike zone.
Irvine Valley’s Marker threw a breaking ball in the dirt, hoping Anderson would chase, but he did not. Anderson worked a walk on the next pitch to load the bases. The Fullerton fans and the dugout started to get rowdy and cheered on Luke Viola, who was the next batter. Viola was unable to come through as he flew out to center fielder Tucci.
“One thing we’ve done lately is leave a lot of guys on and we’ve been very poor at executing simple tasks. It’s not a surprise. A very young and inexperienced team that at this point should not be making these mistakes as consistently as we did,” said Baum.
Fullerton will travel to Irvine Valley on Thursday for the second game of a three-game series.
The Hornets could not find any offensive rhythm, but Irvine Valley did. Back in the fourth inning, leading 1-0, they scored two runs. The rally started with a leadoff walk. Fullerton pitcher Julian Castro tried to throw an inside pitch on Irvine Valley’s Serrato. Instead, Serrato took advantage of a mistake pitch out and over the plate. He smashed a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 3-0.
During that same inning, Coach Baum got frustrated with Viola after recording the second out. Instead of charging the ball to make it an easier throw, Viola decided to play back on the ball, getting the right hop. That allowed the Laser’s Connor Gomez any opportunity to beat out the throw. Viola got him by one step. Baum was banging on the padding while yelling at Viola and the dugout.
It did not get any better after that. In the fifth inning, Larson made a throwing error that forced Hunter Billingsley off the bag. Billingsley tried to tag Irvine Valley’s Josh Gutierrez coming down the line, but was unable to hold onto the ball after applying the tag. Gutierrez moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Baum went to the bullpen to bring in Manny Lopez. Lopez struck out the first batter he saw. He executed a perfect inside pitch that jammed Irvine Valley’s McCaghren. McCaghren was able to fight it off and hit it up the middle past a diving Larson into center field for an RBI single.
After the play was over, Larson was grimacing in pain. The medical staff came out to attend to him. Then the Hornet players on the field came over to check on him. A few minutes later, Coach Baum went out. Fullerton Sports Information Director Phil Thurman believed it was a dislocated shoulder.
Larson was down for about five minutes before getting up under his own will. He was rotating his wrist and told Baum that he wanted to stay in the game. It was not his wrist that was hurt.
“My index finger. I played it out with my glove. When I dove, my finger got stuck on the ground. I felt the back of my finger touch the back of my hand. Little hyperextension, glad nothing’s broken,” said Larson.
Larson’s rough day on the field continued. In the top of the sixth inning, Larson made another throwing error, pulling Billingsley off the bag. Billingsley had to apply a tag and was unable to secure the ball. This was with one out and a runner in scoring position.
“It’s baseball, it’s going to happen. We come tomorrow ready to work. Some of the other miscues is you gotta go back to the core as a team. Figure out why you have these problems in the first place because it’s been ongoing all year. Hopefully, we can bear down and get it tomorrow,” said Larson.
Coach Baum went out to the mound and brought the whole infield in to talk about the situation with the next hitter.
Irvine Valley’s Gutierrez put down a safety squeeze bunt to drive in the run, as it went past Billingsley, who didn’t charge and went toward second base. Larson had to redirect himself as he was heading towards first base to cover the bag. Larson was able to get the ball and flip it over to Billingsley for the out.
“We were talking about the safety squeeze. We knew they were going to run it and they did. We executed the best we could have. Our first baseman didn’t charge,” said Pone.
In the eighth inning, Irvine Valley made it 6-0 on an Andres Hernandez RBI single to right field.
“It was absolutely pathetic. About every stretch of imagination; offense, defense, pitching. We absolutely got outplayed by a team that had not won a game. They did a fabulous job of competing better than we did and that’s the bottom line,” said Baum.
