The De Anza Mountain Lions took on the visiting Reedley Tigers on Jan. 25. This is the second game in a row where they played against Reedley, as they faced off with Reedley the previous day and won 11-5.
“Make sure to let them know that this is the first home win in five years on Opening Day,” said head coach Don Watkins.
Jack Harper (De Anza No. 18), 19, graphic design major, took the mound for the Mountain Lions and started the game getting a ground ball out to shortstop Drew Paxton (De Anza No. 2), but then walked the second batter and hit the third batter.
Another ground ball was hit to shortstop Paxton but was misplayed, leading to Reedley getting the bases loaded in the first inning.
Harper came back to strike out the next batter looking and then got a Reedley batter to hit a ground ball to shortstop Paxton to get the force out at second base, getting out of the inning.
The Mountain Lions came out hot in the first inning with leadoff batter right fielder Evan McRae (De Anza No. 19) working out a walk when he started with 2 strikes, following up with another walk to second baseman Luca Calderone (De Anza No. 1).
First baseman Myles Potter (De Anza No. 26) followed up with a single to center field, loading the bases.
Logan Vieira, the designated hitter, (De Anza No. 24) hit the ball up the middle but Reedley’s shortstop Mark-Anthony Carroll (Reedley No. 4) knocked it down, but the ball got away from the shortstop, leading to two runs scoring for De Anza.
Mason Manglicmot (De Anza No. 6) bunted the ball back to the pitcher, but third baseman Jonathan Callison (Reedley No. 14) dropped the ball as the bases were once again loaded.
Third baseman Alec Ortiz (De Anza No. 16) stepped up to the plate, hitting a ball to a diving Callison. Callison threw home, but the throw led catcher Tyler Tuckness (Reedley No. 5) off the plate, scoring another run for the Mountain Lions as they went up 3-0.
By the end of the game, both Manglicmot and Ortiz had three runs batted in.
Catcher Gabriel Salazar-Mata (De Anza No. 13), hit the ball hard into left center as they extended the lead to 4-0. That hit knocked Reedley’s starting pitcher Case Anker (Reedley No. 26) out of the game, as he didn’t record an out.
The first two pitches from new Reedley pitcher Nolan Keene (Reedley No. 22) were wild pitches, leading to De Anza scoring two runs as De Anza kept the inning going with a 6-0 lead. Paxton was able to get the bunt down, scoring the runner that was on third base and even being safe at first.
The Mountain Lions extended their lead to 11-0, after a four-run bottom of the third inning, highlighted by Potter’s two-run double.
The top of the fourth inning had similarities to the first inning as Harper gave up his first hit, walking a batter and even hitting another batter as the bases were loaded again.
Harper was able to get a strikeout looking before loading the bases.
Harper gave up another walk to give Reedley their first run of the game. Harper was able to come back, striking out and getting a Reedley hitter to fly out to the right fielder McRae. Harper was able to get out of another bases-loaded jam, although giving up just the one run as De Anza led 11-1.
Potter came through for the Mountain Lions, as the bases were loaded, Potter hit it in between the first and the second baseman, bringing in two runs as De Anza extended their lead to 13-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The fifth inning was the last inning of work for Harper as he got through the fifth inning with getting a 6-4-3 double play, and then getting Reedley to hit a line drive right at the right fielder McRae, ending Harper’s day on the mound.
De Anza went on to score five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ortiz, Paxton, McRae and Calderone with base hits bringing in five runs to score to make the lead 18-1.
After Harper’s exit in the fifth inning, relief pitcher Kaleb Dela Cuesta Sato (De Anza No.7), took over for three innings of work, giving up two runs followed by Jay Hernandez (De Anza No. 33), giving up one run in one inning of work.
“I felt pretty good, felt easy with my guys in the offense backing me up,” Harper said. “I felt really confident up there.”
Harper had an impressive five innings of one-run baseball, giving up two hits and hit strikeouts.
Javier Alvarado (De Anza No. 31), the final relief pitcher for the Mountain Lions, came into the ninth inning to close out the game for De Anza. After giving up four walks, Alvarado gave up two runs in the ninth, but was able to close the game out 18-6 with a strikeout under his belt.
“Good team effort,” Alvarado said. “We all did a good job.”
McRae, Potter and Mata led the team with three hits in the game.
