Baseball Splits Weekend Series vs Gavilan

The Falcons hosted a two-game series against Gavilan College of Gilroy on Friday and Saturday, winning an 11-inning game, 3-2, on Friday night before falling 8-6 on Saturday afternoon. 

In the opener, the Falcons took an early lead when Nick Schumacher launched a 2-run homer in the second inning, his first hit of the spring.  Meanwhile, starting pitcher Andrew Schantz shut down the Rams, throwing five scoreless innings.  The Falcons continued to bang out hits, but could not push across any more runs.  The Rams tied the score in the 7^th with two runs off reliever Kendall Menard, and suddenly things got interesting.  Both teams missed scoring chances in the late innings, including a bases-loaded, no outs opportunity for the Falcons in the bottom of the 9^th.  Finally in the 11^th, the Falcons took advantage of a leadoff double by Austin Wailes, who eventually scored the winning run on a bases-loaded single by Tyler Kaim. 

On Saturday, both teams opened with a run in the first inning before the Rams erupted for five more in the 3^rd to take a 6-1 lead.  Down by five, the Falcons never gave up as they scored single runs in the 3^rd, 4^th, and 6^th.  Down 8-4 in the 8^th, the Falcons rallied with three hits and a hit batter to push two runs across.  Trailing 8-6 with the potential tying run at second base, the inning - and rally – came to an end when Kale Leach and Reid Ramirez struck out. 

Outfielder Greg Vaughn and infielder/DH Kale Leach both collected five hits over the weekend (including two doubles and a triple for Vaughn), while outfielder Tyler Kaim had four hits and three RBI's.