Nick Pecoraro
Sports Editor
Kevin Saenz has had a flare for the dramatic this season. He’s delivered huge hits in clutch situations for the Panther baseball team.
On Thursday night at Folsom Lake College, he had a flare for the historic.
The City catcher hit grand slams in two consecutive innings for the Panthers. Saenz drove a pitch over the left-center field wall, giving the Panthers an 8-1 lead in the second inning. In the third, Saenz connected again in his next at-bat and drove the ball out to left field, putting City up 13-1 after three.
After rummaging through numerous archives, City head coach Derek Sullivan said he thinks it’s the first time a City player has ever hit two grand slams in the same game.
“I’m still in shock,” said Saenz, who finished the game with nine RBIs. “I hit one (grand slam) this summer, and I never thought that opportunity would ever come again. It was a good moment knowing how this program is full of tradition and culture. I’m new here, and it feels good to fill in some of the shoes of the guys who have been here before.”
At a glance, the final score made it seem like a football game was played in the middle of spring, but the 23-14 finish was, however, a wild win for the City College baseball team Thursday at FLC.
Center fielder Creed Smith led Thursday’s game off with a home run to begin the City rout and homered again in the third inning. City scored seven runs in the eighth inning and one more in the ninth to top out its highest scoring game of the season, which lasted nearly four-and-a-half hours.
“That was a game that we felt we always had control of, but it was really freaking long,” said Sullivan. “It would really test your focus.”
Friday evening at Union Stadium, City completed the three-game sweep of the Falcons and extended a four-game win streak to close out the regular season.
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The Panthers fell behind early after a first-inning, two-run homer from Folsom’s Aidan Malm. City was down 3-0 heading into the fourth inning.
The Panthers had opportunities to score with runners reaching third base in each of the first three innings. It wasn’t until the fourth that City was able to put runs on the board. Smith singled home Joe McNamara, and Jake Guenther doubled in two runs to tie the game at three.
Saenz brought home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth. His high-chopping groundout was enough to score Kody Gardner from third and give City its first lead of the game.
City starter Danny Chavez went 4 1/3 innings, surrendering only two hits with four strikeouts. The Panthers’ bullpen shut down Folsom the rest of the way. Tanner Cunha, Lucas Reid and Adam Erickson combined for 4 2/3 innings of no-hit relief. Cunha picked up the win and Erickson earned his conference-leading sixth save in the 5-3 victory.
“That’s really been the strength of our team,” said Sullivan of his pitching staff. “If there’s one strength you want in your team, it’s got to be there. The guys that we have coming out of the bullpen—we have different options, guys who can do different things. This matchup or that match up, we can usually take advantage of.”
The Panthers finished at 27-13 overall with a third-place 15-9 record in the Big 8 standings.
“We’ve survived some adversity and learned a lot about our team,” said Sullivan. “We’ve learned things that we need to do more of and things that we need to do less of.”
City now awaits the powers that be to unveil playoff seedings and game locations, which should be announced by Monday. The Panthers are ranked No. 13 in the most recent California Community College Sports Information Association coaches poll.
Sullivan feels that due to the strength of the Panthers’ schedule and finishing third in the Big 8, his team is all but guaranteed to host at least one game in the first round of the playoffs.
“The momentum we have now, especially after these last four games, teams are going to have to come here and beat us,” said Saenz. “Their backs are against the wall the way I see it. We have the power. We are the home team. We just have to take it and run with it. We’ve had our ups and our downs, but we’ve continued to stay with our process and our routines. The balls are starting to fall our way.”
For more info on SCC baseball, visit www.sccpanthers.losrios.edu/sports/bsb/.
