BCC baseball open with losses

BARSTOW • Mike Karpel didn’t get 2010 started the way he hoped for.

The Barstow Community College baseball coach watched the Vikings lose two straight games to Imperial Valley College during a home doubleheader Thursday to kick off the 2010 season. Barstow fell 7-5 in the first game and 11-3 in the second game.

Although the Vikings lost both games, they made a late run and nearly forced extra innings during the early game. Barstow trailed 7-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the first game was only played to seven innings because of the doubleheader, but Evan Rainford and Luke Mejia helped Barstow close the gap. Rainford hit a two-run double and Mejia brought him home with a two-run single to close the gap to two runs with one out. Mejia made it third base with the tying run at base, but that was as close as the Vikings would get.

Karpel said that the Arabs’ starting pitcher in the first game, Jacob Sanchez, held the Vikings at bay. Sanchez only allowed one run in his six innings.

“I thought we gave a great effort in the first game,” Karpel said. “We got behind, but we battled back. I thought we showed a lot of resilience. Rainford and Mejia should have a strong offensive and defensive season for us.”

Barstow didn’t show that same resilience in the second game. The game was tied 2-2 after four innings, however, the Arabs were just getting warmed up. Imperial Valley earned six hits and Barstow committed two errors in the fifth inning, which allowed five runs.

The Arabs continued hitting the ball well into final innings. Imperial Valley’s Octavio Corona hit a solo home run to center field in the seventh inning and Ruben Gonzalez hit a three-run shot in the ninth inning.

Imperial Valley coach Jim Mecate said he was impressed with his team’s play.

“It’s pretty early in the season so we weren’t sure what would happen, but we thought we could get some hits coming into the game,” Mecate said. “Last season we only had like five wins all year, but we’re turning it around.”
The Vikings struggled offensively, striking out 11 times, in the second game. Mejia drove Kyle Covarrubio in with a single line drive in the bottom of the fifth for BCC’s final run of the day.

Barstow will now play another doubleheader against Imperial Valley on the road at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.