Pintos baseball takes lessons from jamboree

<p>Democrat photo/Kevin Labotka</p><p>The California Pintos baseball team competed March 16 at its jamboree. The Pintos were defeated by both visiting teams on the day, Russellville and Jamestown.</p>

Democrat photo/Kevin Labotka

The California Pintos baseball team competed March 16 at its jamboree. The Pintos were defeated by both visiting teams on the day, Russellville and Jamestown.

The California Pintos baseball team played the Russellville Indians and Jamestown Eagles on March 16 at its jamboree.

The Pintos ultimately lost to Russellville 3-1 and to Jamestown 3-0, both in three innings.

Head coach Steven Stock said there were multiple things he liked from the team, despite its losses.

“Offensively, we put the ball in play and did not strike out much, which was good,” Stock said. “Defensively, we were able to make some good decisions which, with execution, would result in outs.”

In the Russellville game, the Pintos led 1-0 after the first inning, but that would be the only run the team scored in the game. California had three hits in the game and while able to get a few runners on base, the team struggled to get them across home plate.

Russellville tied the game in the bottom of the second inning; with runners on second and third, Jake Schulte tied the game on a ground out.

Russellville took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, when the Indians forced the bases loaded with no outs. The Indians scored two runs in the inning to earn the win. The Indians had one hit in the game and gained base runners thanks to two errors by California. Russellville also forced four walks in the game.

In the Jamestown game, the Pintos only had one hit, but the team found other ways to get on base as they forced four walks in the game. Nevertheless, the Pintos were not able to get runs across.

In the top of the first inning, the Pintos forced two walks, but that was all. In the top of the second inning, California forced two more walks to get runners on first and second, but the team was unable to advance them.

Jamestown scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-0 lead, and neither team was able to score in the final inning. The Eagles had four hits in the game and also gained base runners thanks to two errors by the Pintos.

Stock said the Pintos have to put more pressure on their opponents when they have runners on base. Stock also said the Pintos being able to get runners on base in different ways gives them a better chance to score runs.

“Offensively, we have to do a better job of putting more pressure on them by taking more pitches and improving with our quality at-bats in scoring situations,” Stock said. “Getting runners on base is a big key to scoring, and our being able to do this gives us a better chance to score runs.”

There are a few things Stock said the team needs to work on after the jamboree — timing at the plate, which Stock said can be helped by getting more playing time, and reducing walks while pitching in order to help reduce the opponents’ number of baserunners.

“We need to learn to think about what we need to do individually to help us have the best chance to score runs in certain situations,” Stock said. “Overall, we need to get more time playing, which results in our timing at the plate being better. We need to cut down on walks and make plays to reduce baserunners.”