Rams win area clash with Trojans
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
The top three of the Ringgold batting order combined to go 6 for 14 and Gianni Cantini went 2 for 3 with four RBIs to lead the Rams to a 10-5 nonsection win at California Monday.
Cantini’s two-run single in a four-run top of the sixth was the big hit of the game, allowing the Rams to put some distance between themselves and the Trojans.
“This game is us in a nutshell,” Rams head coach Don Roberts said. “It wasn’t pretty. We made three errors in pressure situations, but we were able to put them behind us and kept battling. We’re a young team and we’re only going to get better with experience.”
While the inexperience of the young Rams showed, the experienced Trojans were uncharacteristically sloppy in their season opener.
“This has to be one of the ugliest defensive games I’ve seen in a long time,” Cal head coach Lou Pasquale said. “That first inning, we had a bad hop and an error. We gave them those two runs. I think if both teams play good defense, this game ends up being 3-2 or 4-3.”
In all, the Trojans (0-1) committed five errors, three alone on third baseman Jakob Piktel.
“These guys know I’m not going to get on them for making errors. No one fields a thousand,” Pasquale added. “I like to call it convenient amnesia. You have to put the last play behind you and get the next one.”
The Rams struck first as Joey Shumaker led off with a soft grounder that took a crazy hop past Trojans pitcher Payton Conte. He stole second and came in to score on an error by second baseman Hunter Assad on Chad Behrendt’s ground ball.
Ashton Ray reached base on a dropped third strike, which would have been the third out of the inning. Instead it loaded the bases and Conte hit Cantini with a pitch to give the Rams a 2-0 lead.
“I have no issues with the way Payton pitched,” Pasquale said. “His defense let him down. He threw 28 pitches in that first inning and brought his count down each inning from there.”
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