Blair Oaks shut out Pintos, limit to 3 hits

Braeden Birdsong throws a pitch May 6 during California's 9-0 loss to Blair Oaks.
Braeden Birdsong throws a pitch May 6 during California's 9-0 loss to Blair Oaks.

The California Pintos offense had no luck on May 6 during the team's 9-0 loss to the Blair Oaks Falcons.

The Pintos (13-8) only had three hits against the Falcons (17-11).

In the bottom of the second inning, the Pintos had a chance to score as they had the bases loaded with one out in the inning. But Braeden Birdsong struck out and Colton Warren hit a force out to second base to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third inning, with one out, Hayden Green walked but Gabe Bailey hit into a double play to end the inning.

Head Coach Steven Stock said the team needs to put the ball in play when they have scoring opportunities.

"We simply need to put the ball in play and score the runs. Strikeouts give us no chance to score the runs," Stock said. "We did a decent job of getting runners on base, but could not get them in. We have to keep getting runners on base and then be able to come up with hits or other balls in play to be able to get the runners to score."

Neither team scored until Blair Oaks broke the scoreless tie to make it a 1-0 game on a two-out base hit in the top of the fourth inning.

Blair Oaks would add three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to make it a 4-0 game. Blair Oaks was able to get hits just pass the California defenders in the inning.

"In the fifth inning, we simply did not make the plays which allowed them to score multiple runs," Stock said.

The Pintos had trouble with giving up free bases as they walked EIGHT batters in the game.

"Walks, especially leadoff walks, almost always come around to score which really hurts in close games," Stock said.

The Falcons would score in the top of the sixth inning and pulled away from the Pintos thanks to a four-run inning in the top of the seventh that made it a 9-0 game.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Hayden Green got the ball into the outfield and tried to stretch his hit into an inside the park home run as Blair Oaks was slow to get the ball back into the infield. But Green was thrown out at home plate.

Gabe Bailey pitched four innings for California and only gave up one run in the game.