Local Legion teams collide in doubleheader
The Westside Braves and Colusa Channel Cats traded blows Thursday in a non-league twinbill at Colusa High School.
The hosts paraded for nine runs in the first inning of the opener en route to a 12-7 victory. Westside roared back with an eight-run first in the nightcap to even the series, 15-8.
Colusa 12, Westside 7
Tyler Wells clubbed two doubles in the first-inning rally, and the Channel Cats took advantage of eight Braves errors to rout Westside in the first game, 12-7.
Sean Rawlin doubled and teammates Darren Swearinger and Blaine Huber added singles in the first, which knocked Westside starter Tyler McIntyre out of the game. He threw 51 pitches and struck out two batters in the nine-run nightmare. Three errors were committed behind him in two-thirds of an inning; none of Colusa's runs in that span were earned.
Steven Perry scored three times and Benji Gil and Jeremy Hernandez crossed the plate twice for Colusa. Wells, Rawlin and Swearinger all finished 2-for-4.
Cole MacLachlan led the Braves with three runs scored. McIntyre doubled, scoring twice, and Marc Mason and Trevor Rau both knocked in a pair of runs.
Tanner Johnson turned in an admirable relief effort for Westside, tossing the final 5 1/3 innings. The southpaw gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits with two walks, a hit batter and two strikeouts.
Westside 15, Colusa 8
Gil launched a three-run bomb and drove in a total of five runs, but it wasn't enough to usurp Westside in the second game after the Braves' 8-0 start.
Colusa managed to narrow the gap to a single run, 8-7, in the fourth inning, but Westside prevailed 15-8.
Ethan Schmeltzer was 4-for-4 out of the Braves' leadoff spot, scoring thrice, and Tyler McIntyre ripped his fourth homer of the summer, a three-run jack. He also scored three times.
Westside's first seven batters reached base, and after two outs, four more, for a total of 14 being sent to the box. The Braves' left handers were human magnets at the plate, as Casey Cleland and Daniel Mahutga were each pegged three times. Brad Paschall, a righty, made seven for the game and nine for the day.
Cleland and Michael Garcia each scored twice and teammates Quintin Flores and Austin Arbogast singled and scored runs.
Mason improved to 3-1 on the summer with five innings of work, surrendering seven earned runs on 11 hits to Colusa's potent offense. Garcia relieved the last two frames, allowing one hit and an unearned run.
Hernandez was 3-for-5 with three runs scored for Colusa. Gil finished 2-for-3, Swearinger also had two hits and Perry went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs. Rawlin added a two-run single for the Channel Cats.
Westside (10-13) moved its doubleheader versus Willows to Thursday at 5 p.m., and will also host the Redding Sidewinders on Saturday night at 5 p.m.
