GREAT WEST LEAGUE Gold Sox fall to Heat, don’t lose to Seals

Though the Yuba-sutter Gold Sox rallied late only to come up a few runs short in a 12-9 loss to the Chico Heat at Nettleton Stadium on Friday night, they did receive some good news earlier in the day.

After suffering a 7-6 loss to the San Francisco Seals the night before, the Gold Sox were informed by the Great West League office that Thursday’s game will be replayed after the Seals used an ineligible player.

The miscue came in the fifth inning, when San Francisco made a pitching change and inserted a player who was not listed on the lineup card when it was presented to the umpires prior to the game. The player, Kyle Scott, ended up pitching the final five innings and the Seals went on to win with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

“It’s like that for every baseball game. You can’t just pull a guy from the stands and have him pitch,” Gold Sox general manager Michael Mink said with a laugh. “The coach didn’t think (Scott) was going to be there, so he left him off the lineup card. (Gold Sox manager Jeramy Gillen) noticed it when the pitcher came in, and brought it up to the umpire and immediately protested the game. The league made the decision that it will be replayed from the point when the pitcher entered the game.”

Though the date of the rescheduled contest has not yet been set, Mink said it will continue with the same lineups and the Gold Sox trailing 4-2 in the top of the fifth inning.

Things started well for the Gold Sox in Friday night’s game in Chico as they recorded five hits and scored four times in the top of the second inning. Elijah Smith drove in the first two runs with a single, and Steve Robinson and Brody Clifford later added RBI singles of their own to put Yuba-sutter up 4-0.