Alvarez,
Dirtbags split two games with Cal Bears
By Michael Bower
On-line Forty-Niner
The
eighth ranked Dirtbags (7-4) scored just
four runs combined in the first two games
against the 25th ranked California Bears
(10-4) but still managed to scratch out
a win Friday night 1-0 before losing 6-3
Saturday at Blair Field.
Friday night the Bears made one costly error
that allowed the Dirtbags to score the only
run of the game as Abe Alvarez, Bo Ashabraner
and Carlos Muniz combined to shutout the
Bears 1-0. It was the team’s first regular
season 1-0 shutout since they did it against
UC Santa Barbara in 1994.
A great pitching effort by Bears’ starter
Matt Brown was spoiled in the bottom of
the second inning when third baseman Jeff
Dragicevich bobbled the ground ball off
the bat of Steve Velazco with two outs allowing
Chris Hanson to plate the games only run.
Brown pitched seven innings giving up just
three hits taking the loss as Alvarez pitched
five and two-thirds innings giving up four
hits and striking out six to snag his fourth
consecutive win of the year.
Alvarez, Ashabraner and Muniz played the
role of magicians as they escaped the Bears’
threats of scoring all night long. The three
threw a combined six-hitter as the first
four hitters in the lineup of the Bears
went a combined 0-for-15 with six strikeouts.
The Dirtbags’ offense didn’t do much with
the bats as they managed to scrape out just
three hits. Head Coach Mike Weathers said
he was pleased that his team put the ball
in play and only struck out four times.
“I think we put the ball in play,” Weathers
said. “It wasn’t very hard or good but I
thought we did a good job against a good
pitcher.”
Ashabraner did another excellent job in
relieving for Alvarez on the mound. He recorded
five strikeouts and gave up just two hits
in three innings of work.
“It’s great,” Alvarez said of having Ashabraner
relieve him. “Anybody in our bullpen could
do that job. Bo has done a good job coming
in right behind me.”
In the third inning the Bears had runners
on first and third with nobody out. Alvarez
struck out Dragicevich, James Holder was
then caught stealing and David Nicholson
grounded out to shortstop to end the inning
with no harm done.
In the fifth the Bears threatened with runners
on second and third with one out. Alvarez
again got out of the jam after he got Dragicevich
to foul out and Allen Craig to ground out
to third after Nicholson was hit by the
pitch to load the bases.
The final scare came in the top of the ninth
inning when the Bears had the bases loaded
with two outs. Muniz got Nicholson to fly
out to left centerfield to end the game
and pick up his first save of the season.
On Saturday afternoon the Bears struck for
four runs in the first inning off Dirtbag
starter Jered Weaver and got a strong pitching
performance from Brian Montalbo to boost
them to a 6-3 victory.
“The guys did a good job of not allowing
us to do the things we wanted to do,” Weathers
said.
After giving up four runs in the first inning
Weaver was untouched for the next six innings
as he retired 18 straight hitters.
“I went in the locker room and thought about
it and said ‘the hell with it’ and went
after them,” Weaver said.
Tim Hutting improved his hitting streak
to 11 games with a single in the first inning
but the rest of the Dirtbag offense was
baffled by Bears’ starter Montalbo. Montalbo
threw eight and one-third innings striking
out five and giving up just five hits to
record the win.
Weaver struggled with his control in the
first inning as the Bears sent eight players
to the plate
“We just have to keep going after it,” Weaver
said. “We haven’t really put anything together
in the first two games.”
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