TC Baseball sweeps Porterville in doubleheader behind big bats, strong starts

Taft College completed a two-game sweep of Porterville in a doubleheader, rolling to a 13-2 win on April 2 in Porterville before following with a 6-2 victory Friday at Cougar Field.

The opener turned decisively in the late innings, when the Cougars broke open an already comfortable lead with a five-run eighth. Taft finished with 19 hits and scored in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth innings. Gaku Yamamoto led the offense with a 4-for-5 day, a home run and five RBIs, while Roberto Madrigal also went 4 for 5 and drove in three runs. Zaden Kekoa D. Sibal added three hits, including a solo home run that started the eighth-inning surge.

Taft first got on the board in the third inning when Aiden Otano produced an RBI groundout to score Sibal. Porterville answered with a run in the bottom half, but the Cougars steadily pulled away. Edel Guemarez delivered a two-run triple during a three-run fifth, and Taft added three more runs in the sixth. In the eighth, Sibal homered to center, then Yamamoto followed later in the inning with a two-run shot as Taft batted around and pushed the margin to 13-1. The Cougars totaled five doubles, one triple and two home runs in the opener.

Ryden Walker gave Taft the kind of outing that set the tone for the day. Walker worked eight innings, allowed six hits and one run, struck out eight and earned the win. Porterville managed two runs on six hits in Game 1, with its only scoring coming in the third and ninth innings.

The second game was tighter early, with Porterville taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Tyler Stansberry's RBI single. Taft responded in the fifth with the inning that changed the game. Madrigal singled in two runs, with one scoring on a fielding error, as the Cougars scored three times to move in front 3-1. Taft added one run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, including an RBI single from Guemarez, to build a 6-1 advantage.

Julian Orozco handled the rest from the mound in Game 2. The Taft right-hander went eight innings, allowed five hits and two runs, and struck out eight to earn the win. The Cougars finished with 10 hits and took advantage of five Porterville errors. Madrigal had two hits, two RBIs and a double, while Guemarez added two hits and an RBI. Porterville scored its second run in the seventh, but Taft stayed in control the rest of the way to complete the sweep.