After winning the pre-season game against LA LOVE, the SQ Giants dropped their home opener to their traditional rival, the Mission of San Francisco. The following week, the Giants’ second regular-season game provided the team with an opportunity to stop their losing streak at one. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
The second game was a highly-competitive event against the Bip City Bangers, a Bay Area pick-up team who visited SQRC’s Lower Yard to battle the SQ Giants. The game went down to the last pitch where the home team had a chance to pull off the win, but fell short.
The SQ Giants got off to a fast start in the first two innings, scoring seven runs. Bip City turned the game around in the third, where after scoring their first run, the visitors followed up with two additional runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to even the game.
With the game tied 7-7 in the eighth, SQ Giants pitcher Patrick Poteat served up the game’s winning run at the top of the ninth when Jesse Guevara smashed a home run for the visitors to take the lead 8-7. The Bangers retired the SQ Giants in order to preserve the win.
The San Quentin Giants’ tailspin continued after the two-game losing streak was interrupted with a non-win.
The Barons are a local San Francisco team that plays the SQ Giants three to four times each season. The perennial visitors struck fast and often as the Barons scored a run in each of the first three innings during the Giants’ fourth game of the season.
The game moved to the bottom of the seventh inning with the Barons’ holding what appeared to be an insurmountable lead at 6-1. Visiting pitcher Sequoya stymied the SQ Giants’ hitters, giving up only two hits in six innings while striking out nine.
The SQ Giants lacked firepower that game until Carlos Valdez drove in the team’s second run of the day. His RBI started a rally where the Giants scored six runs as their hopes to get their first regular-season win seemed within reach.
The game was stopped in the ninth inning due to time, and the players agreed a tie was fair. Both teams said they look forward to settling the score the next time Barons come to play.
SQ Giant Aaron ‘June’ Miles had a good day, scoring the first run of the game in the eighth inning. Miles went two for three, along with two stolen bases.
Cole Wertlieb, a first-time player with the Barons, said he has wanted to play at SQ since first hearing about it last season. “The experience was nothing like I expected,” said Wertlieb. “My friends thought I was crazy for coming to San Quentin to play baseball.”
“It’s shocking to me to see how good everyone treats each other. You all are great, I feel really honored to be here.”
The Giants’ winless streak continued with an 8-0 drubbing by the Oakland Ballers.
After the 0-3-1 start, the Giants notched their only two victories of the month, both coming on Thursday evenings.
The Giants beat the Redwood Empire Baseball League on May 21 by a score of 8-7, before losing to the SF Dealers’ by the score of 19-9 on May 23. The team’s second victory came on May 28 as they beat the Oaks of the Bay Area with a score of 6-5.
SQ Giant pitcher Patrick Poteat shared that the team has started a new tradition this year. After each game, players and coaches get together and award the “pickled egg” to the player that is labeled the “biggest truck” [worst performance] of the game.
Poteat also said the team’s losing month could be attributed to the team’s listlessness due to them missing their leader, Manager Richard “Coach Will” Williams.
“We lost our head coach and really wanted to [keep winning] for him. The organization is hoping “Will” returns soon,” Poteat said.
Williams has been moved to a hospital room on the fourth floor of SQRC’s hospital — a room with a view of the game — as he is treated for an undisclosed illness.
The winningest-coach in SQ Baseball history is sorely missed.