Mateus Conaway went 3-5 with a home run and three RBI for The Whitman Blues, but it was the 14 men left on base that resulted in their five-game winning streak being snapped as they suffered their first defeat of the year, falling 5-4 to the Occidental Tigers in Eagle Park, California on Sunday.
Whitman (5-1) had three separate occasions where they had the bases loaded in the game but failed to score on all three occasions, as the elusive clutch hit was not there in the way it was in the Blues five game win streak to open up the year. Patrick Connolly and Jon Thoren combined to give up four runs on nine hits for the Blues, as Occidental (1-6) picked up their first win of the season.
The Blues best scoring chance early on came in the top of the third against Occidental starter Patrick Connolly. The inning opened up with a leadoff walk issued to the Blues 9-hitter
Nathan Wilson before
Nate Korahais dropped down a bunt single to give Whitman runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Connolly then missed with a pitch to
Ben Parker, allowing the runners to move up to second and third. With the free base, Occidental walked Parker to load the bases with nobody out. Unfortunately for Whitman, they could not capitalize as
Garrett Runyan struck out and
Teague Conder grounded into a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to get the Tigers out of the inning and keep it scoreless.
Occidental then took that momentum into the bottom half of the inning against Whitman starter
Jack Hostetler. Nate Upchurch singled through the left side to open up the inning, and was put out at first after the leadoff man Martineau reached on a fielder's choice. After Hostetler struck out AJ Naha, Lou Martineau then got a jump and took second to put himself in scoring position. Garrett Palme then took advantage as he sent a sharp ground ball just past a diving Nick Wilson at third base to score Martineau and make it 1-0 Occidental after 3.
Whitman tied the game at one apiece as
Jack Bickerton, who continued to swing a hot bat, lead off the inning with a rope down the left field line that cleared the wall for his second home run vs. the Tigers and fourth on the season to make it 1-1. After Conaway struck out, Hines doubled down the left field line, and
Halen Otte was hit by a pitch to give the Blues runners on first and second with one out. After Wilson reached on a fielder's choice, Korahais worked a walk to load the bases with two outs, but unfortunately for the Blues, Parker struck out to end the inning.
The Blues would take the lead for the first time in the top of the 5
th inning as Runyan drew a leadoff walk, and advanced to second after a wild pick-off throw from Connolly, allowing him to advance to second base. Occidental then proceeded to walk Bickerton before changing pitchers, as they brought in the lefty Jon Thoren to face the Blues lefty
Mateus Conaway. Conaway offered at the first pitch he saw, hitting a groundball that Bickerton had to hop over, scoring Runyan from 2nd and giving the Blues a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers again countered the Blues offense with a run of their own. Nolan Upchurch was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, stole second, and proceeded to come around on a Martineau RBI single to knot the game up at two.
The Tigers went on to tack on three more in the bottom of the sixth against Hostletler, chasing him from the game up 3-2. The inning started with a leadoff single by Ari Solomon, and advanced to second after an errant pickoff throw from the Blues starter. Cambra then took advantage with a weak line drive into shallow right centerfield, giving Solomon the time to score and give the Tigers the lead and end Hostetler's day. The Blues starter went five innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on six hits, issuing three passes while striking out four. After
Dustin Lennon-Jones came in to pitch for the Blues with a runner on second. Lennon-Jones walked the first man he saw, and Miles Capobianco came through with an RBI single to give Occidental a 4-2 lead. Martineau then followed that up with a sacrifice fly to left field and extended the lead to three.
Whitman got one back in the top of the seventh as Conder walked, advanced to second on a balk, moved onto third base courtesy of a wild pitch, and Hines came through with an RBI single into left field to cut the deficit to two.
The Blues had a chance again in the eighth as
Ben Parker drew a two out walk, and
Garrett Runyan singled down the right field line to put runners on the corners.
Teague Conder then drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Bickerton struck out to end the inning. Brayden Tagamori threw scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings to keep the Blues close, giving up two hits while striking out a hitter in the relief effort.
In the top of the ninth,
Mateus Conaway led off the inning with a solo home run to cut the Blues deficit to one, but the Blues could no muster nothing else, falling 5-4. Thoren picked up the win for Occidental, pitching 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits, walking four and striking out five to get his first win of the year.
Joaquin Hines, the transfer from Saddleback College, finished 2-4 with a double and an RBI, and
Nate Korahais, Runyan, and Conder each picked up a hit for the Blues, who will be back in action in the Pacific Northwest as they play three on the road next weekend to open up conference play vs. the University of Puget Sound Loggers in Tacoma.
