Eagles off to flying start
Laney tied for first in BVC with 5–1 record
[caption id=”attachment_2671" align=”alignright” width=”246"]
Laney College catcher T. J. Molina reaches for a foul pop fly against Napa Valley College on March 8. [/caption]Good pitching, timely offense, and stalwart defense are the positive aspects of the Laney College baseball time at this particular point of the schedule.
After a 5–1 home victory over Solano College on March 15, the Eagles are tied for first place in the Bay Valley Conference with a 5–1 record and are 11–7 overall.
Folsom Lake College is tied with the Eagles for first place with a 5–1 (10–8 overall) mark. Laney’s only BVC blemish is a 4–3 loss to Contra Costa College on March 10.
While the Eagles are off to a good start in the BVC, the real confidence-builder was a 7–0 nonconference home victory over Ohlone College on Feb. 26. The Renegades at that point were 9–1 and were ranked sixth in Northern California. Laney was 5–6.
But with Christian Marquez pitching eight innings of one-hit ball and Kaleo Johnson knocking in two runs, the Eagles defeated one of the better teams in Northern California
During an admittedly difficult non-conference schedule, Laney had come close to (but not beaten) some top-caliber teams. The victory over Ohlone changed that.
The Eagles started off the conference schedule with a 7–6 victory over Mendocino College on March 1 when T.J. Morris hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.