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The opportunities were definitely there, but the Lancer baseball team could not deliver as they fell to 1-5 in South Coast Conference play last week. PCC was edged 6-5 by El Camino College on March 12 at Jackie Robinson Memorial Field and again 10-5 while visiting El Camino on March 14.

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In the finale of the series, the Lancers were routed at El Camino by a score of 10-4 on March 16, despite getting off to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Even though PCC had more than 11 hits in each of the three games, the Lancers had a ton of trouble with situational hitting, including grounding into a dismal six double plays in the third game.

“It’s many missed opportunities,” said Head Coach Evan O’Meara. “My job is to put them in the best possible position to win. It’s got to be frustrating for them and most certainly is for me. We need to have better focus at the plate in those situations.”

In the first game of the series, the Lancers scored four of their five total runs in the sixth inning. They had RBI’s from freshman center fielder Angelo Robledo, freshman left fielder Kori Grant, freshman third baseman Bobby Fraijo, and sophomore shortstop Josh Clark wrapped up the final run of the inning with an RBI single. Grant, who as of late has established himself as a very solid starter, now has eight hits and four RBI’s in only 21 at-bats.

“I’m basically just buying into what all the coaches are saying,” said Grant. “I’m playing really hard for the team, not just myself.”

After replacing freshman starting pitcher Tim Shiba, who pitched six innings on March 12, sophomore reliever Spencer Stute followed with a very solid three innings. Stute allowed only one hit and an unearned run, but the offense struggled to support him. The Lancers got to within 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning, but failed to score the tying run.

“To be honest, I didn’t really think my velocity was there so I just tried to hit my spots,” said Stute. “I’m here to get the job done and some wins for our starters.”

Although they cut the El Camino lead to 3-2 in the second game of the series, in which Kori Grant and Josh Clark had RBI’s in the top of the fifth inning, the Lancers gave up seven runs before they scored again. Facing a 10-2 deficit heading into the eighth inning on March 14, PCC tallied two runs in the eighth inning when sophomore first baseman David Halstead scored on a wild pitch and Angelo Robledo had an RBI single. The Lancers scored one more run in the ninth inning on an RBI by freshman right fielder Phillip Perez, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Lancers fell 10-5.

David Halstead, who had five hits in nine at-bats over the two-game span, saw his batting average climb to an impressive .364 with one home run and seven RBI’s. He now has 16 hits, which is tied with freshman catcher Cameron Silva for the most on the team.

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