The heating intensity filled the air on a cool Spring afternoon at Evans Sports Complex in the 9th inning as Riverside City College righty Julian Herrera fooled Fullerton College’s designated hitter Erik Polanco to strike him out looking. Sending the potential game-tying run packing and ending the game for the No. 11 Tigers with a 4-2 victory. 

The Riverside bench leapt out from the dugout April 1 in celebration of the Tigers’ Game One victory, as Herrera picked up his first save in the orange and black. 

“I was a little nervous,” Herrera said. “In the three outings I’ve had, I’ve been nervous at the start of it, but competing and throwing strikes helps me to calm myself.”

The story of the game was timely execution from their arms and just enough being done on offense to propel them to victory. 

“If we get strong outings like they did today, I like our chances of being in that w(in) column,” Tigers head coach Rudy Arguelles said. 

“We squandered opportunities,” Arguelles added on the offense. “We’ve got to be better with runners in scoring position.”

Sophomore righty Erik Rodriguez started the game on the hill for the Tigers and delivered his second consecutive outing, going seven or more innings. Despite allowing eight hits Rodriguez limited Fullerton to only one run to propel him to his first victory of the season. 

The Long Beach State commit Herrera followed and went the final two innings, allowing no earned runs on zero hits. In only his third outing of the season since coming off injury, Herrera figures to be a weapon in the Riverside rotation down the stretch. 

“It’s something new to me,” Herrera said on his role as a late-game reliever. “I like to be in those situations to help my team win and doing that in the late innings where it’s competitive every single pitch … it’s tough, but I like it.” 

On the offensive side, freshman shortstop Bubba Heidler led the way with three hits out of the leadoff spot. Sophomore designated hitter Marc DiCarlo knocked in two RBIs to help carry the charge for the Tigers. 

Tigers assistant coach Christian Kirtley noted on the teams lack of run production in recent games, as they had 12 hits but only four runs to show for it against Fullerton. 

“We need to keep it simple,” Kirtley said. “We need to eliminate swinging at balls, get our pitch, and when we get our pitch, don’t miss it.” 

Both Heidler and DiCarlo have been staples in the ever-changing Riverside lineup, as coming into the game with Fullerton, the Tigers have only twice put out the same starting lineup in consecutive games this season. 

“We’re lucky that we have a lot of talented players on the bench,” Kirtley said. “We expect that when their name is called that they need to be ready. They’ve been doing a real good job coming off the bench and understanding their jobs, roles and being ready to go.” 

A missing staple in that Tiger lineup has been redshirt sophomore third baseman Eddie Alfaro, who missed his seventh straight game nursing a hamstring injury. Alfaro’s missing presence has been felt as the Tigers are 3-4 in his absence. 

“He’s itching … he wants to get in there,” Arguelles said. “We need to play it smart, we can’t have a setback. If we lose him at this point, the chances are drastically increased that we lose him for the rest of the year.” 

Arguelles stated that Alfaro may be back by the end of the week and may be used if certain situations present themselves in the Fullerton series. 

Alfaro sports a nearly .500 on-base percentage (OBP) on the season and was starting to catch fire with the bat before his injury. 

Riverside improved to 6-4 in Orange Empire Conference play (19-10 overall) and sits in third place in the standings, three games back of the first-place Santa Ana College Dons as they try and win their first OEC championship. 

“This is a situation we’ve been in already,” Arguelles conveyed to his team. “Can we display our growth, have we learned, and can we go on the road and win against a quality opponent and win a series.” 

Fullerton hosts the Tigers in Game Two of the series April 3. 

This article is dedicated to Matt Schoenmann.