On Feb. 29, Mt. SAC baseball suffered a 7-6 loss against the East Los Angeles Huskies in game two of a series. SAC at the time sat three games above .500 overall with their record at 1-1 in conference play.

SAC opened up the three-game conference series with a 6-2 victory in Monterey Park just two days before this game.

Sophomore pitcher Kyle Calzadiaz (16) was given the ball for the second series game, where command seemed to plague his sixth start of the season. Calzadiaz (16) would walk five and hit two batters through 4.2 innings of work.

In the first inning, Calzadiaz (16) gave up a leadoff single and walked the second batter. Good defense from SAC limited any potential damage as sophomore catcher Daniel Briones (29) threw out leadoff sophomore shortstop Aramis Harrison (4) and Calzadiaz (16) picked off freshman first baseman Evan Chavez (4) after successfully stealing second.

SAC would strike first in the bottom of the third after a sac fly from leadoff right fielder Bryan Bradshaw (freshman, 24) drove in sophomore shortstop Andrew Ramirez (2). Later that inning, freshman first baseman Nick Mejia (18) would record an RBI single to drive in sophomore center fielder Joey Rossetti (12) who doubled earlier in the inning and reached third base successfully on a passed ball.

Calzadiaz (16) was able to tightrope his way out of trouble until the top of the fifth inning. After retiring the first batter, he would walk and hit the next two batters he faced. Trying to escape trouble for the third time that night, Calzadiaz (16) would surrender a three-run home run to Huskies’ freshman outfielder Manny Ramirez Jr. (24) that would give the Huskies a 4-2 lead. Calzadiaz (16) would leave the game a batter later after giving up a single and could not get out of the fifth inning.

In the sixth inning the Huskies had expanded their lead to 7-2 by tacking on another three runs in the top half of the sixth. The offense faced the tall task of erasing a five-run deficit late in the game and responded by matching three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth and adding on one in the eighth to bring the game within one run.

SAC could not scratch across the tying run before the end of the ninth leaving Briones (29) stranded on first after being hit by a pitch and freshman third baseman Ty Thomas (19) grounding out for the final out as their rally fell just short, resulting in a 7-6 loss.

When asked about Calzadiaz’s command and performance, Head Coach John Knott looked on the bright side of his outing, “They had one hit through four innings, I thought when he was around the plate they were having a tough time with them,” he said.

“He fell behind and got predictable,” Knott added.

Knott, although acknowledging a valiant effort to push while down five runs in the sixth inning, emphasized they needed to close out games better. “That’s an area we still have to continue to improve on. It’s about finding ways to minimize your mistakes and it was better today.” Knott said about his lineup’s ability to hit late in the game. “We had our chances to come back.”

SAC will begin a three-game set against the Compton Tartars with the series concluding at home on Saturday, March 9.