Benicia Panther Baseball Headed to Division III Title Game

The baseball team punched its ticket to another Sac-Joaquin championship game Tuesday with a convincing 15-1 victory over Rio Americano in the third game of its best of three series. The Panthers in the series Saturday 6-2.

The Sac-Joaquin Divisioin III championship game will be played Monday, May 30, 2011 at Sacramento City College, 3835 Freeport Boulevard, in Sacramento.  Game time is 3 p.m.  The Panthers will face Rodriguez High School from Fairfield.

The first game Tuesday  started well for the Panthers, who scored three runs in the first four innings and held the Rio Americana Raiders scoreless with good pitching from sophomore hurler and solid defense by the rest of the team.

The Raiders got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning, scoring two runs on four singles, including outfielder Alex Mugnaini's one-out single on a bunt that died in the grass. 

After dropping the Panthers in order in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Raiders added five runs in the top half of the sixth while getting four singles and a double.  At one point a frustrated Dave Fuqua, the Benicia pitching coach, yelled at the umpire and was thrown out of the game. 

Coach Jim Bowles was philosophical about the loss of his pitching coach.

“I think he was frustrated,” said Bowles. “He was sticking up for his pitchers. It was only his second ejection in 10 years of coaching.”

In the bottom half of the sixth, Benicia’s bats started to come alive again. After singles by and Jake Payne, came to the plate and belted a double, scoring Garrett Rosario, who was running for Olson, and Payne. Payne was four for four in the first game.

With the score 7-5 in the top of the seventh, the Raiders managed to get one more run and that turned out to be the difference in the game. The Panthers scored two in the bottom of the seventh inning but it wasn’t enough.

Bowles had nothing but praise for his players and for the other team after the game.

“I’ve got to give the other team credit,” he said. “They hit the ball. I thought our pitchers did great. They were throwing strikes.”

Bowles sounded confident going into the second game. “We’re going to score a lot of runs next game. This team never gives up.”

The second game got off to a very good start when Panther shortstop Ryan Wheat and Reyes scored.

The Raiders answered with one of their own, a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning by outfielder Alec Kazanjian. Pitcher , a junior, was able to shake off the bad pitch and resulting homer.

After the game, Fulton had this to say about the home run: “I wasn’t shaken by it because I threw a bad pitch. I knew I wasn’t supposed to pitch that guy inside but I missed my location. I still had a lead and I knew my offense would score some runs for me.”

The offense proved worthy of Fulton’s faith when they scored nine runs in the top of the second inning.

With a big lead, Fulton became nearly unhittable. “You don’t have to nibble at the corners,” he said about pitching with a lead. “You can just pump in strikes.”

The game was called after five innings because the Panthers were up by more than 10 runs. Fulton pitched all five in his second start of the season.

After the game, Reyes, a senior, said he talked to Fulton before the game and told him, “This is your game. Don’t let me come in and relieve you.”