The MSJC baseball team had a rough week as they lost three straight close games to Chaffey to fall into second place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference.
Tuesday at Chaffey the Eagles built a lead of 4-0, before the Panthers scored five times in the bottom of the 8th to grab a 5-4 lead. Christian Smith answered with an RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the 9th that would send the game into extra innings. Chaffey finally scored a run in the bottom of the 12th to win the game 6-5. Smith and Nate Prinkey finished the game with 2 RBIs each while Austin Sargent also drove home a run, Tanner Aoki had a pair of hits including a double.
Game two of the series was in San Jacinto on Thursday, this time it was Chaffey who jumped ahead early as they scored 3 runs in the top of the 3rd. The Eagles pushed one across in the bottom of the 3rd, but the Panthers answered right back with 4 in the 4th to take control of the game. MSJC continued to chip away, but came out on the short end of an 8-5 final. Smith had 3 hits and drove in three and Aoki added two more hits and stole two bases. Juni Rodriguez also picked up an RBI. Evan Stratton took the loss on the mound as he lasted 3 and 1/3 innings allowing 7 runs, 5 of them earned. Pierce Sailer was strong out of the bullpen as he pitched 5 2/3 while giving up just one run on 3 hits.
In Saturday's series finale in Rancho Cucamonga a 3 run bottom of the 4th was the difference as Chaffey won again, this time 6-3. Joseph Romero took the pitching loss as he worked 5 innings allowing 4 earned runs and striking out 6. Greg Luna had 3 hits and an RBI for the Eagles, Sargent and Dominick Lombardi each also drove in a run.
The losses drop the Eagles into second place in the IEAC standings behind Chaffey. MSJC is now 13-4 in conference play and 23-8 overall while Chaffey improved to 22-9 for the season and 16-2 in IEAC games. College of the Desert sits in third place in league play with a mark of 13-5.
The Eagles return to action with three games this week. MSJC will host Allan Hancock on Tuesday at 1 pm and San Bernardino Valley on Thursday at 2. The Eagles travel to Hancock on Saturday.