Coast Drop Late Back-And-Forth Battle

LONG BEACH, CA – The Long Beach Coast (33-11) lost their first game at Blair Field in seven games to the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (15-29) in late-inning dramatics on Wednesday night.

Cole Percival made his first start for the Coast, following three appearances from the bullpen after joining the team on June 26. Percival’s first two batters reached on back-to-back singles, one of which scored on a bases-loaded double play to nab the early 1-0 Freebirds lead.

The Coast immediately flipped the script in the bottom of the first, starting with back-to-back hits of their own – a leadoff triple by left fielder Eddy Pelc and an RBI single four pitches later by second baseman Patrick Roche.

Four batters, two walks and two outs later, Coast catcher David Whittle took the plate for the first time in his professional career. On the fifth pitch from Freebirds starter Dan Galef, Whittle sent a drive over the left field wall for a go-ahead grand slam. Whittle’s impressive first professional hit capped off the five-run response rally to end the first inning.

No runs scored from the second inning through the fifth inning. Percival was responsible for three of the four scoreless frames, allowing only one hit and retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced to finish his 67-pitch start.

The Freebirds broke the scoreless streak in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run from third baseman Kyle Carson. Yuba-Sutter’s Dylan McCall threw an eight-pitch shutdown inning to shift the momentum towards the visitors heading into the final three innings.

The Freebirds sparked a go-ahead five-run rally in the top of the seventh. Right fielder Andrew Kirchner hit a go-ahead two-run single off Coast reliever Steven Ordorica, who faced five of the nine Freebirds in the seventh, awarding hits to three of them.

The Coast responded in the bottom of the seventh with their first runs in six innings. Right fielder Matthew Bardowell knocked across a pair of Coasters on a two-out double to narrow the Coast deficit to one.

Coast reliever Jaxon Byrd aided the late comeback cause in the top of the eighth, recording a 14-pitch shutdown inning where he struck out three consecutive Freebirds, all looking.

Freebirds closer Tristan Wolf entered the game with a one-run advantage in the bottom of the eighth, after the setup arm Corbin Barker allowed two Coasters aboard on walks. Wolf immediately received help with a pickoff from his catcher Diego Aragon to catch pinch hitter Johnny Pappas at first for the second out. 

Wolf, with one out to escape the eighth with the lead intact, issued two consecutive walks, followed by a go-ahead two-run single by Coast first baseman Cooper Vest to take a 9-8 lead into the ninth.

Long Beach went to their go-to closer Zach Voelker, who had just acquired back-to-back saves in their previous two games for his now league-leading eight on the season. Voelker recorded his first out in three pitches, then fell into trouble – Kyle Carson, who had the go-ahead four-bagger in the sixth, tied up the game at 9-9 on an RBI single. Two batters later, Freebirds shortstop Devon Dixon cleared the bases on a two-out triple, acquiring the third and final Freebirds lead of the game.

Wolf reentered the game in the ninth with the new three-run advantage, needing only 10 pitches to secure Yuba-Sutter’s third win in their past five games in a 12-9 final.

The Coast took their third loss of their initial 20 games at Blair Field, as well as their first loss since the Modesto series finale on June 14, ending a seven-game home win streak.

The final home series of the first half is now split ahead of Thursday’s series finale at Blair Field. Long Beach will look to pick up the series after ending a nine-series win streak the previous weekend in Marysville (2-1). The Beach Ball Pregame Show will start at 6:15 PM PDT on HomeTeam Network and Long Beach Coast on YouTube – first pitch is set for 6:35 PM.

Joey Miller