By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
Nico Velasquez homered and the host Napa Valley College baseball team had 14 hits, but the Storm lost the opening game of a Bay Valley Conference series on Tuesday, March 24, falling to Laney College-Oakland, 10-9.
Velasquez was one of five players to have two-hit games for Napa Valley (8-17 overall, 4-3 Bay Valley Conference).
It was the second straight loss for the Storm.
The game was tied, 9-9, going into the ninth inning.
Laney scored the winning run in the top of the ninth inning.
Ryan Rice reached base on an infield error for the Storm in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After a fly-out to right field and a fly-out to shortstop, Ty Francis hit a double, moving Rice to third base.
The game ended on an infield fly-out.
Velasquez was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, two RBIs and a stolen base.
Additional two-hit games came from:
* Dylan Brown, 2-for-4.
* Wyatt Smith, 2-for-5, two runs scored, RBI.
* Myles Gray, 2-for-5, two runs scored, triple, two RBIs, stolen base.
* Zack Baird, 2-for-5, three RBIs.
Additional hitting came from:
Ryan Rice, 1-for-3, double, run scored, RBI; Hibiki Kodama, 1-for-4; Ben Menard, 1-for-1, double; Ty Francis, 1-for-1, double.
Napa Valley left nine runners on base. The Storm had three errors.
In the first inning for the Storm, Smith singled and scored on an RBI single by Gray.
Gray scored on an RBI sacrifice fly to center field by Rice. Velasquez walked and came home on Baird's RBI single.
In the third inning, it was Velasquez hitting a two-run home run, driving in Gray, who reached on an infield error.
In the fifth inning, it was Baird with a two-run single, scoring Rice, who doubled, and Velasquez, who singled.
In the eighth inning, it was Smith with an RBI single that plated pinch runner Lionel Williamson, and an RBI triple by Gray that drove in Smith.
Blake Goen started and pitched 4 2/3 innings, facing 26 batters.
Haden Stephen pitched in relief, throwing 3 1/3 innings and facing 18 batters.
Bobby Caine threw one inning of relief, facing four batters.
Napa Valley travels to Laney on Thursday, March 26 for Game 2 of the series st 2 p.m.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.