Twenty-five combined runs, 23 innings, three days and one extra-innings thriller. But no partridge in a pear-tree.Then toss in the weather holding up, along with Ohlone and Solano splitting their two-game series, and we really can say that “everybody won.”The Ohlone baseball team and the Solano Falcons split their doubleheader over the weekend, with the Renegades winning on Saturday 8-7 in 14 innings and Solano winning the second game 7-2.The catch here is that Thursday’s game stretched into Saturday due to darkness after the 13th inning on Thursday.The series started at Ohlone with freshman Mark Mercer taking the mound for the Renegades in his third career start. Mercer struggled a bit on Thursday, pitching just 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits while walking and striking out two.Falcons starter Joe Lewis shut down the Renegade lineup through 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four, this while striking out and walking five batters.And then came the ninth inning.After Matt Fontaine sat down Solano in the top of the inning, the Renegade lineup went to work.Down 4-2, Ohlone catcher Michael Di Rocco led off the inning by reaching first on a throwing error, allowing him to advance to second. Kyle Holmstrom came up next and, much like Ryan Walterhouse did at San Mateo, Holmstrom drilled a Ben Consuelo pitch to right-center field for a two-run home run , tying the game at 4.Holmstrom’s home run marks the first time that Ohlone has come back in the ninth inning in back-to-back games.Ohlone had two more chances to win the game in extras, once in the 11th inning after tying the game at 5, but Cody Foster popped out to center to end the inning. Then in the 13th, Walterhouse’s shot fell just short of the fence.On Saturday, Solano picked back up, driving in two runs in the 14th, one off a Derek Crenshaw RBI single and the other off Patrick Johnson’s run scored with two outs.The Renegades offense picked up also, with Ohlone driving in three-runs, including Zach Johnson’s two-RBI single, tying the game at 7, then Ohlone ended the game with Josh Vidal’s sacrifice fly, bringing home Stephen Lacombe for the win, capping Ohlone’s three-hit, three-run bottom of the 14th.The “second” game Saturday saw the Renegade magic simply disappear, as Falcons starter Kenton Bevacqua held the Ohlone lineup to just two runs on seven hits through 6 2/3 innings in the Falcons 7-2 win.Renegades ace sophomore Roberto Padilla suffered his first loss of the season, struggling through 4 1/3 innings, while allowing six runs, five earned, on a season-high eight hits allowed, although he struck out three and walked one batter on the day.
By Jeff Weisinger
Editor-in-chief
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