#12 Curtis Cassise making the winning run in the 11th inning against the Golden West Rustlers
The Riverside Community College Tigers made a come-from-behind win 5-4 in Saturday's game against the Golden West Rustlers at the Evans Sports Complex at the Riverside campus.
The game marked the Tiger's fourth win in a row, bringing their Orange Empire Conference wins to 3-0 over the Golden West Rustlers, and non-conference games at 6-6. The Rustlers however, were 9-6 and now 1-2 in the Orange Empire Conference.
Saturday's game was moved up from 12 noon to 10 in the morning due to the weather and possibility of rain. Along with the weather, it seemed gloomy for the Tigers at first.
The Golden West Rustlers managed to make three runs in the top of the third inning, and 4 runs overall by the time the first 2 innings were over.
The Tigers remained with a score of 0 runs until the seventh inning, when they came from behind and managed to make 4 runs themselves, evening the score.
It was #12, Curtis Cassise, that was able to draw a walk while the bases were loaded with #6 Christopher Haas on third who came in for the first run, #15 Michael Denucci on 2nd base, and #26 Wynton Bernard on 1st base. Though there were 2 outs on the board, Cassise managed to walk and allowed the Tigers to score their first run, and it didn't stop there.
Next to bat was #1 Billy Nottingham, who also managed to drive the ball and lead another run to score for the Tigers. #19 Frankie Torres also hit the ball, and helped his teammates score the 2 more runs that tied the game up. Though there had been two outs against the Tigers, they managed to cram in the 4 runs that tied the score and changed the course of the game.
Now that things were tied up, the pressure was on the Golden West Rustlers to score. After 9 innings, and nearly 2 hours later for the last 6 innings, the score was still tied up, our own Tigers 4 and Golden West Rustlers 4 as well.
#15 Michael Denucci driving the ball, while up to bat
It wasn't until the bottom of the 11th inning when the Tigers managed to make it happen. #12 Cassise had made it to second base after hitting the ball, and with #3 Michael Castello on 1st after a walk, #11 Brandon Day was able to move them to 2nd and 3rd base. With bases loaded, and no outs for the Tigers, #27 Aaron Lafountaine made a hit into the left-center field that drove #12, Cassise home and made the final winning run for the Tigers in Saturday's game.
After 11 innings, and a come from behind victory, the Tigers managed to defeat the Golden West Rustlers. This Saturday they take on Orange Coast here at the Evans Sports Complex at 12 noon.
