Gold Sox split series with 7-4 victory over Bears
The Marysville Gold Sox put an end to their four-game losing streak on Saturday night, taking an early lead and holding it until the end in a 7-4 victory over the Yuba City Bears in front of 1,262 fans at Colusa Casino Stadium in Marysville.
With the win, the Gold Sox earned a split in the two-game series and took a 6-4 edge in 10 headto-head matchups this season between the two Great West League rivals. They also flipped spots with the Bears at the bottom of the league standings.
Marysville wasted little time jumping ahead as former Yuba City High standout Devin Pettengill led off the game with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error to open the scoring. Another Yuba City High product, Joey Mejia, followed by knocking in a run on a fielder’s choice to give the Gold Sox to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
Justin Cooney-Sylk made it 4-0 by hitting a two-run single with two outs in the top of the second, but Yuba City answered in the bottom half of the inning on a long solo home run by Kealen Crisosto.
The Bears continued to chip away at the lead in the third when they scraped together a pair of runs. Josh Winkler knocked in the first with an RBI single and Dominic Diana added the second on a sacrifice fly to trim the lead to 4-3.
The Gold Sox kept at it, though, adding to their advantage by scoring a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Pettengill started the rally once again by getting hit by a pitch and he later scored on a run-scoring single by Brock Ephan. Marysville’s other run in the inning came when Beau McClintock grounded in to a 6-4-3 double play.
Yuba City inched closer in the seventh inning when Crisosto walked and scored on an RBI single by Shaq Robinson, but Marysville answered in the eighth on an RBI single by Jason Dicochea to make the score 7-4.
The Bears put two runners on with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Casey O’Sullivan entered the game and got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the game and record the save.
Lincoln Clayton earned the win by striking out seven and allowing just two hits over 4 ⁄ solid innings of relief, and Cooney-Sylk finished with two singles to lead the way offensively for Marysville.
Crisosto, Winkler and Creed Smith finished with two hits each for Yuba City, which out-hit the Gold Sox 8-7 on the night but left 11 runners on base compared to just four for Marysville.
Landon Mitchell allowed five runs and three hits over four innings to take the loss. Andrew Fuentes pitched the rest of the game for the Bears, striking out seven while allowing four hits and two runs over the final five innings.
The Gold Sox (7-15) will stay at home and welcome the Chico Heat to town for a two-game series starting today at 6:05 p.m.
The Bears (7-17) will begin their only two-day break of the summer, except for the All-Star break from July 23-24. They will return to action on Tuesday when they host the Portland Pickles in the opener of a three-game set.
Marysville and Yuba City will conclude their 12game season series on Friday and Saturday.