The De Anza College baseball team took on the visiting Diablo Valley College Vikings and lost 6-3 on March 16.
Starting pitcher Calvin Johnson (Diablo Valley No. 16) tossed a complete game.
The Vikings took advantage of five Mountain Lion errors, scoring one run in the fourth and sixth innings coming off mistakes.
“Monday games are rough, especially playing on Saturday and competing like we did,” head coach Don Watkins said. “It was a rough one on the field on the defensive side …, it definitely could have been a 3-2 game or a 2-1 game.”
The Mountain Lions scored first as right fielder Logan Vieira (De Anza No. 24), 21, business administration major, singled to left field, scoring first baseman Keanu Hennings (De Anza No. 17) 20, kinesiology major in the first inning.
The Vikings came back in the following inning taking the lead after a two-run double from catcher Cameron Valentine (Diablo Valley No. 18), scoring John Hasegawa (Diablo Valley No. 41) and Luis Sanchez (Diablo Valley No. 27).
The Mountain Lions went scoreless until the eighth inning when left fielder Brandon Kim (De Anza No. 29) hit an RBI triple to right field, scoring second baseman Drew Paxton (De Anza No. 2) 20, business administration major.
Kim came in to score from an RBI groundout from Hennings, cutting the deficit to one point.
Sanchez would then come up for the Vikings hitting a two run single, scoring Collin Bankerd (Diablo Valley No. 10) and Anthony Capra (Diablo Valley No. 7), adding insurance runs and extending the lead to 6-3 in the ninth inning.
The Mountain Lions did not score in the ninth inning as Johnson, a submarine pitcher, threw a complete game ending with six strikeouts.
“Hats off to him (Johnson), some of the adjustments I made while facing him were trying to scoot back in the box or scoot up a little bit inside the box to work out with that slider and sinker,” Center fielder Xaiver Pateli (De Anza No. 7) 21, liberal arts major, said. “He (Johnson) definitely made it a challenge.”
The Mountain Lions’ starting pitcher Hunter Lawrie (De Anza No. 25), went 6.2 innings, giving up two runs and striking out three Vikings.
“It’s sad we lost,” Lawrie said.
Pateli said the team came out too flat.
“The energy just wasn’t like how it’s been the last couple games,” Pateli said. “That’s baseball for you, baseball is a game of failure.”
The Mountain Lions looked to bring the energy up for their next series facing the undefeated-in-conference No. 1 seed, San Mateo College.
The team lost the first game away 14-8 and the second game at home 15-1. The Mountain Lions will play the Bulldogs again on Saturday at 1 p.m. away.
