Braves, Toros split twinbill

The Westside Braves American Legion baseball team split with the Red Bluff Toros in an exciting cross-county battle on Thursday night in Corning.

Both young 17-and-under teams were eager to pick up games after recent cancellations and schedule conflicts. Westside was supposed to play the Redding Diamondbacks that night, but the latter had another game to play, and Red Bluff missed out on three games with Hamilton City due to a lack of players on the latter ballclub.

Red Bluff 9

Westside 8

Casey Cleland bashed a two-run triple and scored to highlight Westside’s three-run comeback in the bottom of the seventh, but the tying run was left in scoring position as the Toros won the opener, 9-8.

Alex Costa and Daniel Mahutga opened the two-out rally with back-to-back walks. Cleland tripled and scored on Marc Mason’s RBI double to represent the equalizer, but Marcos Malagon grounded out to end the game.

Benny Goodman earned the victory on the mound for Red Bluff, pitching 2 2/3 innings in relief. He cruised through the fifth and sixth before running into control problems in the seventh. Storm Lewis relieved to retire Malagon, picking up his first save of the season in the process.

The Braves knocked Toros starter Alex Solis out of the game with a five-run fourth inning. Cole MacLachlan walked to lead it off and Tyler McIntyre followed with a single. Costa ripped a run-scoring single, Mahutga walked to load the bases and Cleland singled to drive in McIntyre.

Mason reached on a failed fielder’s choice, scoring Costa as the throw home sailed over the catcher’s head, and teammates Malagon and Austin Grootveld stroked RBI singles to extend Westside’s lead to 5-1.

The Toros stormed back in the sixth, however, to tie the game. Kyle Rodriguez and Jordan Fox walked with one out, Storm Lewis singled to load the bases and Zane Medeiros plated courtesy runner Stephen Jensen with a fielder’s choice, as Lewis was forced out at second.

Goodman reached on an error, scoring Fox, and Casey Hilsee singled to knock in Medeiros. Cody Riley laced a double into the left-center gap to extend the rally but the Toros stranded runners at second and third.

Red Bluff went ahead in the seventh inning with four more runs. Cory Lyon was hit by a pitch and raced from first and third on a sacrifice bunt by Rodriguez. Fox hit a single to plate Lyon with the go-ahead run, and Lewis reached on an infield error. Medeiros was hit by a pitch to load the bases and reliever Cody Fox gave up RBI singles to Goodman and Hilsee.

In what proved to be the game’s deciding run, Dakota McFall wore a fastball between the shoulder blades with the bases loaded to force in Medeiros.

Red Bluff ah r h rbi / Westside ab r h rbi

McFall 4 0 0 1 / C. Fox 4 0 0 0

Paschall 2 0 0 0 / MacLachlan 3 1 0 0

Lyon 2 2 0 0 / McIntyre 4 1 1 0

Rodriguez 2 0 0 0 / Costa 3 2 2 1

Jensen 0 1 0 0 / Mahutga 1 2 0 0

Solis 2 0 1 0 / Cleland 4 1 2 3

J. Fox 1 2 1 1 / Mason 4 1 2 1

Lewis 4 1 2 0 / Malagon 4 0 2 1

Medeiros 3 2 0 1 / Grootveld 2 0 1 1

Goodman 3 1 1 2 /

Hilsee 4 0 2 2 /

Riley 3 0 2 0 /

TOTALS 30 9 9 7 / 29 8 10 7

Red Bluff 000 104 4 — 9 9 2

Westside 000 500 3 — 8 10 3

Red Bluff IP H R ER BB SO

Solis 4 7 5 4 3 2

Goodman (W, 1-0) 2 2/3 3 3 3 3 1

Lewis (Sv, 1) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Westside IP H R ER BB SO

McIntyre 5 inn, 3 hits, 1 run (0 earned) 1 BB, 5 SO

Mahutga (L) 1 1/3 inn, 5 hits, 6 runs (3 earned) 2 BB, 1 SO

Fox 2/3 inn, 2 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 0 BB, 1 SO

2B — Mason 2, Riley 2. 3B — Cleland.

Westside 16

Red Bluff 7

The Braves piled up 16 runs behind Mason on the mound to throttle Red Bluff in the nightcap, 16-7.

The game was stopped in the sixth inning due to the 10-run rule because the official book only recorded six runs for the Toros.

Mason tossed five innings, holding Red Bluff to five hits and six runs (four earned) for his first win of the summer. He walked four and struck out one.

Westside’s offense started churning from the beginning, as MacLachlan singled to open the bottom of the first. McIntyre singled and Costa belted a two-run double, giving the Braves a quick 2-0 lead, and Cleland walked and scored on Mahutga’s two-run double.

The Toros battled back for three runs in the second, with RBI singles by Brad Paschall and Trey Samons, to cut their deficit to 4-3, but Westside added five unearned runs in the third.

McIntyre, Cleland and Grootveld reached on errors and Javier Raygoza smacked a two-run single to highlight the rally.

Toros starter Jordan Fox was stuck with the loss after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up 13 runs (eight earned) on seven hits with four walks, two hit batsmen and four whiffs.

McIntyre and Mahutga put the game away offensively for the Braves, as McIntyre cleared the bases with a three-run triple in the fifth and Mahutga homered in the sixth. MacLachlan added a two-run single in the sixth to plate the Braves’ final runs.

Jensen paced Red Bluff’s offense by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and Samons and Paschall both drove in two runs.

MacLachlan finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs in the leadoff spot for Westside, Grootveld scored three times and McIntyre, Cleland and Malagon crossed the plate twice.

Red Bluff ab r h rbi / Westside ab r h rbi

Samons 1 0 0 2 / MacLachlan 4 2 3 4

Rodriguez 3 0 1 1 / Mason 3 1 0 1

Solis 2 0 0 0 / McIntyre 4 2 2 3

Medeiros 1 1 0 0 / Costa 3 1 1 2

Lewis 4 0 0 0 / Cleland 3 2 0 1

Jensen 4 2 3 1 / C. Fox 3 1 0 0

Goodman 1 2 0 0 / Mahutga 4 1 2 3

Lyon 3 2 1 0 / Grootveld 3 3 1 0

Paschall 3 0 1 2 / Raygoza 3 3 1 0

Riley 3 0 0 0 / Malagon 1 2 0 0

J. Fox 0 0 0 0 /

TOTALS 25 7 6 6 / 30 16 10 16

Red Bluff 030 121 x — 7 6 6

Westside 405 043 x — 16 10 6

Red Bluff IP H R ER BB SO

J. Fox (L, 0-2) 4 2/3 7 13 8 4 4

Rodriguez 1 1/3 3 3 1 1 0

Westside IP H R ER BB SO

Mason (W, 1-2) 5 5 6 4 4 1

2B — Costa, Mahutga. 3B — McIntyre. HR — Mahutga.

Mason (W, 1-2) 6 inn., 6 hits, 7 runs (4 earned), 5 BB, 2 SO