Riverside City College Tiger, David Butler, 21, stretches into his pitch while Golden West Hustler, Zech Samayoa, 13, starts his unsuccessful attempt to steal second base. Tigers hosted the Hustlers with a 10-1 victory on April 7. (Stephen Day | Viewpoints) 
Riverside City College Tiger, Maxwell Shor, 3, is caught stealing second base. Tigers hosted the Hustlers with a 10-1 victory on April 7. (Stephen Day | Viewpoints) 
Riverside City College Tiger, Darius Price, 20, easily catches Golden West Hustler, Zech Samayoa, 13, trying to steal second base. Tigers hosted the Hustlers with a 10-1 victory on April 7. (Stephen Day | Viewpoints) 
Riverside City Tiger, Ignacio Alvarez, 5, dives back to catch the foul ball. Tigers hosted the Hustlers with a 10-1 victory on April 7. (Stephen Day | Viewpoints)
By Jair Ramirez
Capitalizing off errors behind strong pitching performances led to a series victory over conference rivals.
After being shut out 5-0 the first game, RCC bounced back to take the next two games.
Golden West struggled defensively throughout the three game series and committed a total of seven errors.
RCC took advantage after two early errors by Golden West by taking a four run lead after two innings in game two of the series.
Wild pitches were also a factor in the game allowing RCC to score runs on two of them and move runners into scoring position.
Several times Golden West made a mistake, RCC cashed in by delivering key hits afterwards.
Freshman pitcher David Butler had a solid outing and pitched six scoreless innings.
“I felt good, I felt everything was working for me good,” Butler said. “I was throwing a lot of strikes.”
Butler was poised on the mound and pitched himself out of several jams, including the fifth inning when he had the bases loaded with one out.
This was a key part of the game as Golden West was gaining momentum and seemed to be inspired after their coach was thrown out of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Freshman outfielder Julian Alvarez had three hits, three runs, a stolen base and 4 RBI in the Tigers 10-1 victory.
“It was all mental for me, knowing what I can do to help my team out, knowing what I can do to manufacture runs,” Alvarez said. “I just felt really confident today, felt great, high energy.”
RCC won the rubber match behind a great bullpen performance and late inning homer 5-4.
After giving up three runs in two innings of work, freshman pitcher Jordan Townley was taken out of the game.
The RCC bullpen which consisted of Chaz McWilliams and Hayden Coon took over the game.
The pitchers only allowed one run in seven innings with Coon picking up the victory.
The teams were tied 3-3 in the top of the seventh when freshman infielder Ignacio Alvarez hit a two-run home run which ended up being the game winning runs as RCC ended up winning 5-4.
The Tigers are in second place in the conference with a 10-5 record.
“It’s kind of been a rollercoaster with the whole season. If you look at the overall record and things of that nature,” head coach Rudy Arguelles said. “The exciting part for us, not only from the coaching staff but from the players’ stand point as well, is that we have not even come close to hitting our stride.”
