By Alfonso Rivera
The Husky baseball team’s eight-game winning streak ended at the hands of Riverside City College in the postseason earlier today at Kincaid Field at Cerritos College.
The Huskies, the No. 7-seed, were upset by Riverside, the No. 10-seed, 1-0 in the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Regionals.
The Huskies fell to 21-16 overall while the Tigers improved to 19-18.
In a game that matched both aces of their respective staffs, Tiger Blake Burrell (6-0) out-dueled East Los Angeles College’s Juan Vera (6-4) in the first of three possible games.
Both Burrell and Vera pitched complete games for their teams, each going all nine innings in the ballgame.
Vera allowed five hits and struck out one Tiger in the contest.
“I felt good. I was making my pitches. I made one bad pitch and that was the difference,” said Vera.
Vera was making a reference to a fastball he pitched that Tiger left fielder Grady Espinosa crushed for a home run to deep left center in the second inning.
Burrell allowed seven hits while striking out seven Huskies.
Burrell struck out the side in the fifth inning and did not allow a Husky batter to reach third base in the contest. Only two Huskies got to second base.
“Vera was outstanding, it’s tough to lose a game like that,” Head Coach James Hines said.
Team captain and first baseman Manuel Estevez went 3-for-4, all singles. Estevez was also caught stealing twice.
“We just didn’t execute offensively and did not take advantage of our opportunities. We just need to brush it off and bounce back,” Estevez said.
“I told the kids after the game that we have to come out and fight tomorrow, if we lose our season ends,” said Hines.
If the Huskies beat Riverside tomorrow, the season continues 30 minutes after with game three of the series.
The winner of two-of-three games advances to the Super Regionals.