City College baseball finished the 2014 regular season with an overall record of 24-11, and its players found themselves matched up with the Cabrillo College Hawks in the first round of the CCCAA Nor-Cal Regional Playoffs.
After dropping the first game of the best-of-three series (6-1) to the Hawks Friday night, the Panthers won a dramatic game two the next day in the 13th inning when infielder Nolan Ryan hit a walk-off single against Hawks pitcher Eddy Puga to drive in Matt Caselli and win the game 6-5 for City College.
Then, in the final and deciding game of the series Saturday, Hawks pitcher Ryan Capozza threw a complete game against the Panthers, allowing just two runs and securing the 4-2 win for Cabrillo College.
While the season ended prematurely for the Panthers, who had hopes of competing for a state championship, the team’s 24-11 record—12-9 in the Big 8 Conference—is its best regular season since 2011 and was good enough to place the team in a three-way tie for third place in the Big 8.
“We’re probably more talented than we’ve been the past couple of years, and we have some really rock solid guys that are playing every day,” said Panthers head coach Derrek Sullivan. “[We have] third-year players, sophomores, and we’re an older group for our level. And that really helps—a lot of experience and a lot of battle-tested guys that really care about the program.”
As the Panthers headed into the final game of the season, the team was in a four-way tie for first place, and with a win they would have been guaranteed at least a share of the Big 8 title. But City College lost its final game and the chance to host a first-round playoff series.
“If you look back at the big picture, as far as the regular season I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves. We’ve taken care of business a lot, beat most of the teams we should beat. And in our conference if you make mistakes, you pay for them, and we’ve had to do that, which is a good learning experience,” said Sullivan. “Playoffs aren’t a bonus; they’re what we play for.”
Jerrod Bravo, Jared James and Ben Ritchey were standouts for the Panthers this season, according to Sullivan, as all three made the All Big 8 Conference First Team and one player, Zach Smart, made the Second Team. James and Bravo, both sophomores, put up the teams best offensive numbers. James had a .358 batting average, three home-runs, 21 RBIs, 34 runs, and 12 stolen bases. Bravo hit for a .359 batting average, 28 RBIs, 27 runs, and 12 stolen bases.
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According to Bravo, the Panthers’ successes this year were not only a result of strong individual play but of good team chemistry.
“The past two seasons that I’ve been here… there was a lot of arguing and bickering between teammates, but not this year,” said Bravo. “Even when we would find ourselves losing a couple of games, there was never anything like that we were always picking each other up.”
James attributes his success this season to settling in at City College.
“I give credit to just really getting comfortable in my situation at Sac City,” said James. “Last year was a big change from high school to college and getting to know the system, but now I have my experience with the system and a better relationship with the coaching staff.”
Both James and Bravo will not be returning next year. James says after the season he will transfer to Long Beach State and plans to play for the Healdsburg Prune Packers, part of the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League, during the summer. Bravo will transfer to Cal State Fullerton to play for the Titans.
Sullivan said Bravo and James are the kind of players who are hard to replace.
“These are seasoned guys. They didn’t just step in—they weren’t that good last year—it took them a while to get to the point they are now, so you hope the recruits and freshmen that come in get a lot better,” said Sullivan.
