By Dan Gudino
Baseball was swept in a three game series against Mount San Antonio College ending in the worst loss of the season, 15-6, on Saturday at home.
“I seriously don’t know what our players minds are going through. Who knows what they’re thinking. I couldn’t tell you if they’ve quit on the season, but it’s up to them. We as coaches won’t,” Hines said.
The three game losing streak puts ELAC close to being eliminated from the playoffs.
ELAC must now win the last five games of the season against rivals Cerritos and Pasadena City College.
“We can come out here and compete every day, and come to practice, but at the end of the day you have to want it. Either you do or you don’t,” East Los Angeles College head coach James Hines said.
On Saturday, ELAC used nine pitchers in nine innings, the most its used in a game all season.
The nine pitchers surrendered 14 hits, the second most given up in a game this season, and conceded the most runs in a game this season. It was ELAC’s worst loss since allowing nine runs to Riverside in a scoreless game on Feb. 10.
“If you fall back as much as we did, it’s nearly impossible to catch up, especially when you allow five runs, make two errors and hit two batters, all in the first inning. It’s not going to work out in our favor. I can only hope that these guys want to come out to compete as much as I like coming out to compete,” Hines said.
ELAC freshman pitcher Angel Torres let go a towering grand slam to right field, outfielder Kyle Francis watched the ball sail over the fence and onto the protective net, making the score 12-0 in the fifth inning.
Husky freshman starting pitcher Adrian Cardenas did not last the first inning. He went two-thirds of an inning, after facing eight hitters, gave up five runs on three hits, that included hitting batter, a wild pitch that scored a run and gave up a double.
Things got worse in the seventh inning when Mt. SAC added two more runs. ELAC made the score respectable with four runs of its own, off four singles.
ELAC’s pinch hitting, designated hitter, freshman Juan Castillo, had the best day of any Husky with two hits, two Runs Batted In, and a walk. Freshman, shortstop Gabriel Figueroa finished a good individual performance with four hits and two runs.
“They (Mt. SAC) put the bat to the ball hard today. I felt like I was hitting all my spots with my pitches, but they came to play. Wherever I put it, they put the bat on ball and found holes. It was my worst game ever. All I can do is bounce back,” Cardenas said. Cardenas’s season record goes to 2-6 the
Huskies overall are 14-17.
Last Thursday, in game two of the series at Mt. SAC, ELAC took its only lead of the entire series in the third inning when Francis and sophomore center fielder, Matthew Sosa, each singled in a run to give the Huskies a 2-1 advantage, but relinquished a run in each of the fourth inning, fifth and sixth.
Sophomore pitcher, Alex Carrillo received his fifth loss of the season on thursday, conceding four runs on eight hits, and striking out six. Last Tuesday, ELAC failed to score a run with a bat, however it did manage to score off a pitcher’s error in the fourth that brought in the only run of the game for the Huskies.
ELAC won their first game at the Allan Hancock Spring Tournament in Santa Maria 11-10 yesterday. The Huskies came back from a 10-5 deficit after scoring six runs in the top of the eight. ELAC play two more games in the tournament and then come back on Friday to face Santa Ana College in a makeup game, postponed due to rain.