SPO
4 April 6, 2023
PHOTO BY STEPHEN DAY | VIEWPOINTS
Stealing the season series Riverside center fielder Casey Murray Jr. gets caught up in a pickle while trying to steal third. However, the Tigers stole 12 bases April 1 with Murray tallying three by himself.
Tigers take advantage of control issues, win two out of three games SETH HAYGOOD STAFF REPORTER
A back-and-forth slugfest peaked with a seven-run fifth inning that propelled the Riverside City College baseball team to victory over Cypress College. That rally on April 1 ignited a spark in every player on the Tigers, including freshman catcher Anthony Gibbons. “(That inning) was really good,” Gibbons said. “It made us feel comfortable. Made us ease up
a little bit on the defensive and the offensive side, so it was cool.” From that point on, the momentum was too much for the Chargers and RCC ended up securing the win 17-11. One of the Tigers’ key players was sophomore first baseman Adrian Arechiga. He started the fifth inning by scoring two of his six RBIs on the day. “Each at-bat I just tried to not be tense and focus on staying in the middle of the field, getting my barrel to the ball and driving
through it,” Arechiga said. There were plenty of control issues with Cypress’ pitches not finding their target, causing some passed balls. The Tigers took advantage of those mistakes with extra stolen bases. “(We) really just tried to hone in and stay diligent with the approach,” Riverside head coach Rudy Arguelles said. “(We were) trying to be patient and force them to come in the zone. I felt the guys offensively overall did a really good job.”
RCC had an extra edge to it’s play after Cypress snapped the Tigers 16-game win streak on March 31 that dated all the way back to Feb. 14. With the win, the team took the season series against the Chargers. Early fielding struggles hurt the Tigers in the first couple innings. “To be honest, I don’t know if we even really cleaned (the defense) up. We just happened to be on the fortunate side of a W and not an L,” Arguelles said. “Sometimes it’s like that. I don’t think that’s the
brand of baseball that we want to play but in this conference having the opportunity to get the W and get a conference series win, we’ll take it.” Riverside will be on the road for a non-conference game against the LA Mission College Eagles on April 4. The team knows it has to follow the gameplan to win and get back on track. “Just come out and simply compete,” Arechiga said. “Take care of the little things and if we can do that, then we’ll be successful.”
IE in MLB
The Inland Empire was well represented on Opening Day with numerous players from the area
Corona
Fontana
Riverside
Murrieta
Chino
Milwaukee Brewers rookie second baseman Brice Turang got the Opening Day start at second base. Just a few days later he hit a grand slam for his first major league home run. Turang attended Santiago High School in Corona.
Riverside City College legend Jesse Cavez got to work early this season as he pitched one and one third innings allowing zero runs on opening day for the Atlanta Braves. Since then he has appeared in one more game where he pitched a shutout inning. Chavez also went to A. B. Miller High School in Fontana.
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher and Riverside native Austin Barnes is going into his ninth MLB season. Barnes attended Riverside Polytechnic High School where he was teammates with Chicago White Sox outfielder Jake Marisnick.
Murrieta Valley High School alumni third baseman Patrick Wisdom recorded two home runs through the first two games of the season for the Chicago Cubs. He spent one year each with the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers before landing with the Cubs in 2020.
Pitcher Bailey Falter recorded his first start of the season for the Philadelphia Phillies three days after opening day where he held the Texas Rangers to two runs in five and one third innings. Falter was drafted out of Chino Hills High School in the fifth round of the 2015 MLB first-year player draft.