FAIRFIELD, CA.,— After Marin leveled them in their series tiebreaker on Saturday, the Falcons’ Baseball team (9-17, 4-3) bounced back handedly 9-3 in the first matchup of the series against their fellow Bay Valley Conference foes Contra Costa (3-22, 0-7) to fall back on the positive side of .500 conference-wise.
The Solano victory came off the back of the team’s collective batting average of .343 and starting pitcher Daniel Rios’ six strikeouts, outnumbering Contra Costa’s pitching staff combined (5). Five players stepped to the batter’s box and left with multiple hits while finishing with at least an RBI.
The scoring began during the Falcons’ first go-through of the lineup in the bottom of the first, when shortstop Mason Syre hit a rolling single up the 3-4 hole sending outfielder Javi Manila home from second, giving the Falcons the first score and lead of the game. Although starter Rios walked two batters with bases loaded in the next half-inning, his team and he were able to rebound through tightened-up pitching and jumping bats.
Starting immediately in the following half-inning with a sacrifice flyout by outfielder Isaiah Pazimo and bleeding into the bottom of the third inning, the Falcons stomped their entire talon on the gas and didn’t think to look back at the dust cloud they kicked up in front of Contra Costa. Solano drove in four runs and gave up none. This put the lead —bigger in return— back in their hands.
The stifling of Comet scoring came from the shutdown of Contra Costa’s most lethal hitter, first baseman Fawkes Bruinsma. Bruinsma came into Tuesday batting .353 and slugging at .485 with eight extra base hits—all team-leading stats for players with more than 30 at-bats. Through the performance of both Daniel Rios and reliever Gabriel Navarette, Bruinsma finished the afternoon striking out two times out of four total plate appearances, amounting to no hits.
In the midst of this Solano acceleration, right before the bottom of the fifth, both designated umpires for the game huddled and murmured with the coaches of both squads. After a brief conversation, Solano Athletic Director Alison Aubert now included, the umpires walked to the umpire room and switched both gear and places. Although extensive, this stoppage wasn’t taken in vain.
Per Aubert, who added extra context in a comment the next day, the umpire watching over home plate was starting to feel overheated.
Due to the opinion of the Solano College Sports Medicine Staff, “they decided that it would be best to move the plate umpire to the field umpire as a precaution due to his symptoms,” according to Aubert.
This halt didn’t slow or cool down the Falcons whatsoever. Immediately after the game resumed, in that same inning, outfielder Teo Copp hit the second of his three knocks for a single that scored second baseman Jace Parkinson.
After this Falcon victory, Solano still has to finish the series with Contra Costa, continuing with today’s game in San Pablo, but will take on Napa Valley after the tango with the Comets. The Results of the rest of this series and the upcoming Napa Valley series will prove to be pivotal for Solano’s postseason aspirations. Both Napa Valley and Solano are a part of a four-way tie for second in the Bay Valley Conference, along with Los Medanos and Laney. All four teams sit at 4-3 in conference.
With essentially a 0-0 inter-conference record starting now due to the four-way knot lying on the silver podium, the Solano Falcons control their own playoff destiny through their future performances in the last four remaining series on their docket.
Check out the game in its entirety on the Solano College Sports Network’s YouTube channel.
