In a hard-fought battle, the visiting Barons beat the San Quentin A’s, 6-3, in the season finale.
In the play of the day, the A’s Carlyle “Otter” Blake attempted to steal by doing his best Superman impersonation. He leaped over the Barons’ second baseman but was still tagged out.
“That was amazing. I’ve been playing baseball for 20 years and I’ve never seen anybody jump over a player and the base like that,” said Baron Rob Eifler.
San Quentin’s baseball season ended while the prison was on lockdown over Legionnaires’ disease.
The Barons’ defense was strong all game. Barons catcher Casey Hildreth threw out three A’s players attempting to steal.
The father and son team of Frank and Louis Derosa turned double plays with ease to get out of the fourth and fifth.
“We finally had a winning season against these guys. Our confidence is up; now we come here expecting to win,” said Baron Kyle Peterson.
The Barons overcame a 2-1 A’s lead in the fourth. L. Derosa opened with a double and moved to third on a Rob Foster single. Peterson singled for the score.
Both runners advanced off a wild pitch by the A’s Chris Marshall. Baron Chris Lerma singled to score Foster for the 4-2 lead.
The A’s scored in the eighth, after Barons Pitcher Eifler walked four straight batters for a run with two outs.
Mike Kremer relieved Eifler and struck out the next batter, holding on to a 4-3 lead.
The Barons added two runs in the ninth. Josh Lamb doubled, and Jimmy Shoemaker singled. Lerma smashed a line drive double for the two RBIs. The A’s got out the inning off two pop flies and a ground out to second, down 6-3.
“We played hard; but we couldn’t put enough runs together. We faced some good pitching and hitting. These guys (Barons) really came to play,” said the A’s Rob Tyler.
The A’s other runs came in the second and fourth. Royce Rose singled to score Blake after he walked and stole second. In the fourth, Marshall singled and Bilal “Mr. 99” Coleman doubled for the RBI.
“This is my farewell season. I will be paroling soon. When you can get guys from different walks of life to create a brotherhood, you have something good. I will support these guys and this program from the outside,” said Coleman.
Foster added, “It’s sad that this is the last game. We had a good time. We laugh, joked, and we knew it will always be competitive. I’m looking forward for next year.”
