Hawks hot hitting pulverizes Pirates pitchers.

The Cosumnes River College Hawks continued their balanced hitting and strong pitching as they dominated Modesto on Thursday 10-2, and 13-4 on Saturday to start the Big 8 Conference play 3-0.

THURSDAY:

The Hawks broke out first with a run in the second with a pair of singles and a runner scoring on an attempted double steal. In the bottom of the fourth, after the Pirates scored to make it 2-1, the Hawks added two more runs. After Jordan Estes reached on a fielder's choice forcing Billy Rockefeller who had singled, Brooks Day got on board with an error by the Modesto 2nd baseman. Jordan Yu doubled and advanced to third after another error by the Pirates second baseman scored for two more runs.

The Hawks added another run in the bottom of the sixth as Rockefeller was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Estes moved Rockefeller over to second and he moved to third quickly on a wild pitch. Brooks Day drove Rockefeller in with a single to make it 4-2. CRC added two more in the bottom of the seventh starting with a Trevor Ray walk. Brett Bloomfield singled moving Ray up a base before Brian Morley walked to load the bases. Rockefeller then walked driving in Ray with the Hawks fifth run. With one out Brooks Day drove in Bloomfield with a sacrifice fly to right for a 6-2 lead after seven. The Hawks tacked on four more in the bottom of the eighth as Daniel Enes reached on an error to start the inning. Walks to Francisco Prado and Ray loaded the bases. Bloomfield brought in Enes with a double play for the first two outs of the inning. Morley then reached second on an error by the Pirates shortstop allowing Ray to score and Rockefeller ended the Hawks scoring with a two-run homer, his sixth of the year.

For the Hawks, Rockefeller with three more rbi's, Yu who drove in two, and Enes all had two hits in the game and Bloomfield, and Day each added a hit for the Hawks total of 8 in the game.

Pitching was solid for the Hawks on Thursday as Anthony Castaneda picked up his third win without a loss starting and going five innings giving up just two earned runs on the day. Castaneda has a 1.96 era on the year with 23 strikeouts in 18.1 innings. Thomas Galart came on in the sixth inning and pitched the final four innings giving up just three hits and two walks for his first save of the year. While Galart hasn't been overpowering with the strikeouts so far this year, he lowered his era to a tough 1.21 in 22.1 innings.

SATURDAY: 

There must be something the Hawks like about the Modesto hitting backdrop after piling up 29 runs in two games there this year. The Hawks put 13 on the board against the Pirates in the series finale in the 13-4 victory.

In the first Trevor Ray singled and moved around the bases to third where Billy Rockefeller drove him in with a sacrifice fly for the 1-0 lead. CRC put up four more in the top of the second as Jordan Yu walked, moved to 2nd on a ground out and scored on a Francisco Prado single. After Trevor Ray walked, and with two outs, Brian Morley doubled to left driving in Ray and Prado. Rockefeller follwed with another double driving in Morley as the Hawks took a 5-0 lead.

After the Pirates scored three in the bottom of the second the Hawks added two more to take a 7-3 lead. Brooks Day walked to open the inning and then Jared Alameida doubled moving Day to third. Prado then reached on an error by the left fielder wich allowed both Day and Alameida to score. The Hawks strung together four walks in the fourth for another run making it 8-3. After the Pirates scored a run to make it 8-4, the Hawks broke it wide open with five runs in the top of the sixth inning. Three doubles led the way in the inning as Prado got CRC going with one to left field. After Ray walked and Brett Bloomfield was hit by a pitch, Morley cleared the bases with a double to the gap in right center. Rockefeller then walked and both he and Morley moved up a base on a wild pitch. Jordan Estes drove a sacrifice fly to center scoring Morley and Day doubled in Rockefeller ending the scoring for the Hawks as they took the lead 13-4 for the win.

The Hawks had six doubles on the day and collected 15 walks from Modesto and still left 13 runners on base in the contest. Rockefeller is now the rbi leader in the state with 30 on the season and is tied for third state-wise with his six homeruns. Morley is in a tie for eighth in rbi's with 22.

Pitching was again a positive aspect of the victory even though Joshua Congress struggled a bit in his three.1 innings. The bullpen however was magnificen with 5.2 innings of relief giving up just one hit and walk with six strikeouts. John Treat picked up the win evening his record at 1-1 on the year. 

The Hawks are now 11-6 on the year having won eight in a row while outscoring their opponents 98-19 over those eight games. Billy Rockefeller is 12-29, .413 over that stretch with 4 doubles and 4 homeruns and 20 rbi's. Brian Morley is hitting at a .357 clip in those games with 4 doubles and 2 homeruns with 15 rbi's. Brooks Day is red-hot hitting .484 adding 13 rbi's in that stretch. Teamwise the Hawks are third in the state with 97 walks and are sixth in the state with their .318 team batting average. Trevor Ray, had he played in enough games to this point in the season, would be number two in the state in on-base percentage at .612. Ray needs to have played in 75% of the Hawks games to be considered but he is three games short, but the season is young.

Next up for CRC: A game on Tuesday against Shasta College originally scheduled for a road game, but the field at Shasta is currently unplayable due to weather conditions. Game time for the tilt at CRC is 2pm on Tuesday the 7th of March.