Down to their last strike, the Skyline Trojans (3-1) tapped into their power to homer back-to-back for a 7-5 comeback baseball win at Butte College.
Makai Susor
With one runner on and two out in the top of the ninth, and the Trojans trailing 5-4, sophomore Makai Susor worked the count full before connecting for a go-ahead two-run home run down the left-field line. It marked just the second homer of the year for Skyline, and the first for Susor.
“He put together a really great at-bat,” Trojans manager Tony Brunicardi said. “I think he fouled off two or three pitches ... and he ended up wearing the guy down.”
Sophomore Jacob DuFrene followed with a solo home run to cap the scoring.
“We battled,” Brunicardi said. “We were down to our last strike and, I’ll be honest with you, every at-bat in the ninth inning was a great at-bat by our guys ... and in the end we got rewarded.”
It was a personal comeback swing for Susor as well, as the sophomore had committed a critical error in the fifth inning amid a 2-2 tie. Butte freshman Tyler Porter hit a chopper up the third-base line that Susor gloved, set his feet, and sailed an errant throw down the right-field line, allowing freshman Kolbey Stolpe to score from first base to give the Roadrunners a 3-2 lead.
Skyline tied it in the top of the seventh, but Butte responded with a two-run rally in the bottom of the frame with RBI singles from freshmen Jacob Klapper and Jack Selfridge, to make it 5-3. The Trojans got one of those runs back in the top of the eighth on the team’s first home run through four games, when Nick Tobin connected for a solo shot to left.
“I don’t think we’re a power hitting team; I think we have some guys that have some power,” Brunicardi said. “But I think we’re more a team with a dynamic offense that can score runs in multiple ways.”
Butte reliever Tomas Torres survived the eighth inning, though, striking out the side. He returned to the mound in the ninth, and struck out Brayden Smith to start the frame. Then sophomore Jack Ruegg sparked a rally with a one-out single back through the middle. Josh Kaplan then hit a screaming liner back to the mound that drilled Torres in the thigh and rolled toward first base. Torres chased it down and got the out at first, with pinch-runner Anthony Decker advancing to second.
Susor and DuFrene then cashed in to hand the Roadrunners (4-1) their first loss of the season.
Skyline reliever Will O’Brien worked a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win. Franco Moran navigated a ninth-inning single to close it out for his second save of the year.
The Trojans have now scored in four different innings in each of their three wins to start the year.
“We haven’t gotten those big, big innings yet, but we’re doing a really good job to push runs across in any way we can,” Brunicardi said.
Butte took Thursday’s opening game of the three-game series 9-3. The rubber match in Oroville is slated for Saturday at noon.
The Bulldogs (4-0) rallied back in their final at-bat against College of Merced to win their fourth straight to start the season Friday on the Hilltop.
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eight, CSM rallied for three runs, spurred by a leadoff single from Rocco Giometti. Pinch-runner Kieran Baker promptly stole second and third, and scored on a game-tying Lucas Schumaker single. Schumaker later scored on a balk to give the Bulldogs the lead, and Gianni Conte followed with an RBI single.
Freshman reliever Jack Molise fired two scoreless inning to earn the win.
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