PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – At the end of Week Three, it is the San Diego Force who sit atop the SCCBL leader board with a 5-1 record.  Not far behind, the Palm Springs Power opened SCCBL play this week with a record of 3-1. After a loss to the Inland Valley Pirates in their first league game of the season, the Power quickly bounced back to win three straight. The Pirates and SoCal Bombers both earned big victories over the course of the week, with the Pirates taking down the Power and the Bombers grabbing a win over the league leading Force.  With multiple upsets and close games over the course of the week, 2018 is shaping up to be one of the most competitive SCCBL seasons in recent years. The title is up for grabs.

The San Diego Force had a strong week on the bump and in the batter’s box, finishing 3-1 on the week.  They began with the week with a 5-2 win over the East LA Dodgers before edging Dovetail Bats 3-2 on Thursday.  The first SCCBL loss of the season came to the Bombers in a split doubleheader on Saturday. The Force pulled out a hefty 12-4 win in game one before falling 9-7 in the second half of the twin bill.  In the game one victory, Donnie Roethler (Southwest Baptist) crushed his third home run of the season to tie for the league lead. In his six games this week, Roethler logged nine hits with a .375 batting average.  Almost half went for extra-base hits as the rising senior notched two doubles, a triple, and a home run while also knocking in three runs. Max Holtzclaw put in work on the mound for the Force. Appearing in three games, he tossed 8.2 innings, earning a win, with six strikeouts.  He allowed just two earned runs for a 2.08 ERA.

The Power enjoyed a pair of non-league blowouts to kick off the week, downing the Cal Jays Tuesday night by a score of 14-2 before taking a 15-3 win over the Gold Sox on Wednesday. Point Loma southpaw Alex Strizak was masterful yet again in Tuesday’s contest, hurling six innings of one-run ball while notching another nine strikeouts to increase his league-leading season tally to 25. The onset of league play posed the first real challenge for the Power this season, as the boys from Palm Springs took their first loss of the year in game one of a doubleheader with the IV Pirates Thursday night. The Power recovered their winning ways in game two and carried that momentum throughout the rest of the week, taking two hard-fought victories over the Inland Valley Bucs at home before rounding out the week with a non-league 11-1 thumping of the East LA Dodgers. The team benefited from exceptional production at the plate and on the mound, as the lineup slashed .310/.436/.380 while the pitching staff posted a 3.23 ERA and a 7.0 K/9 ratio for the week. Palm Springs’ 3-1 start to SCCBL play finds them in second place in the league standings.

After a slow start to their season, the Inland Valley Pirates caught fire this past week going 4-2. The Pirates split a double feature with the Palm Springs Power, handing them their first loss of the season in a 3-1 win. They finished the week with a three game series against the Bulldogs, taking two of three to win the series.  Jake Lacheman (UC Irvine) played a big role in the win over the Power, tossing four shutout innings while giving up just two hits and striking out two. He helped himself out at the plate, drilling an RBI double to put the Pirates on the board first. The Pirates found success from a couple key offensive players this week. Joey Riherd (Pacific) hit almost everything that was thrown his way. He finished the week with a batting average of .692 (9-13) with four RBI, three doubles, and five runs scored. Chase Wehenser (Baylor) also added to the Pirates lineup.  Wehenser clutched up with two multiple hit games with three RBI, three doubles, and five runs while batting .417 (10-24). Along with Lacheman, Andrew Hensen (Cal Poly Pomona) provided support from the mound for the Pirates. He dominated through five innings of work against SoCal Bombers, striking out nine and giving up only one run in the 10-3 win. He tossed a total of eight innings on the week, striking out 13.

At the end of the third week if the summer, the Riverside Bulldogs sit in the fourth spot in the standings. They went 2-2 this week, grabbing wins against the Bucs and Pirates, and sit at a 6-5 record in SCCBL play.  On Tuesday, it took 10 innings for the Bulldogs to down the Bucs and earn an 11-10 victory. Kade Warner (Riverside City College) and AJ Jurado (California Baptist) each had four hits in the contest. Ethan Watt (Arizona Christian) drove in three, including a two-run game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth, and is tied for the league-lead in home runs.  Travis McFarland (Vanguard) was the hero in the game, knocking in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th. Angel Ortiz (Cal Poly Pomona) had a big week at the plate going 5-13 (.385) with a double and five RBI. The pitching staff found themselves in tough situations throughout the week, but things turned around in the final game of the week. Colby Childs (Drury University) silenced the Pirates’ offense in the Bulldogs’ 5-0 win on Sunday night.  Childs kept the Pirates scoreless in a solid seven innings of work, only giving up two hits and serving up seven strikeouts. He held the Pirates hitless through the first five innings.

The Inland Valley Buccaneers opened the week with an impressive 9-4 team win over Southern Nevada, led by LHP Brennan Piceno’s (CSU San Marcos) seven strikeouts and OF Christian Valdez’s (Cal Poly Pomona) three-hit night. The Bucs then found themselves on the losing end of what may be the game of the SCCBL season so far, falling 11-10 to the Riverside Bulldogs in 10 innings on Tuesday. OF Robert Longtree wowed with his bat once again, reaching base four times and falling only a double short of the cycle in the extra-innings thriller. An 8-4 win over the SoCal Bombers helped the Bucs bounce back from the tough loss, before dropping the final two games of the week on the road to the Palm Springs Power. Valdez’s 7 RBIs on the week tied for the most in the league, while his 1.337 OPS stood good for second best amongst players with at least 20 plate appearances. Now holding a 2-5 league record, the Buccaneers find themselves in fifth place in the SCCBL standings.

Currently at the bottom of the SCCBL standings, the SoCal Bombers concluded their week with an upset win over the league leading San Diego Force.  Starter Adam Paulson (Northwest Nazarene) earned his first win of the season after going 7.2 innings, striking out 10. Sergio Valenzuela (St. Mary’s) worked 1.1 innings for the save. Austen Salcedo was a tough out this week, going 6-12 (.500) with an RBI. He also drew four walks and swiped two bags.  As mentioned, Valenzuela continues to play a key role on the mound for the Bombers. This week, the rising senior logged 4.1 innings pitched and gave up just three hits while striking out four and allowing one earned run.

Week Four begins with a twin bill between the Bucs and the Force, hosted by the Bucs at Amerige Park.  The Bombers travel to the desert on Tuesday to take on the Power, before the Bulldogs do the same on Wednesday.  On Thursday, the Force square off with the Pirates in Fullerton. The weekend will feature a contest between the Power and Pirates on Friday and Saturday, and the Force will host the Bucs for a doubleheader on Saturday.  On Sunday, the Power will travel to San Diego for two games featuring the top two teams in the SCCBL.