Ohlone baseball holds off Feather River in Super Regional Game 1

The Ohlone College baseball team displayed its impressive balance again Friday, holding off Feather River 6-5 to take Game 1 of a best-of-three-game series in the Super Regional.
It marked the No. 4 seeded Renegades’ 15th consecutive victory as they improved to 37-6.
The teams will meet again in Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Ohlone, when the Renegades can lock up the series with a win. A third game would take place at noon Sunday, if necessary.
Ohlone head coach Mike Curran was pleased that the Renegades kept tacking on runs to provide just enough cushion for the win.
Starting pitcher Ethan Skuija improved to an impressive 13-1 on the season, tied for tops in the state.
But Curran is taking nothing for granted in the competitive series. No. 5 seeded Feather River is guided by coach Terry Baumgartner, who earned a landmark 700th career win on April 20 this season.
“They’re well-coached,” Curran said of the Golden Eagles. “You know with Baum’s team, they’re not going to give up or throw in the towel.”
Five Ohlone players had two hits apiece: Ryan Walstad, Ryan Probst, Justin Clark, Dalton Vanhille, and Brett Tressen.
In the fifth inning, Probst had an RBI single to score AJ Curtis. Miguel Cazares had an RBI ground out in the sixth. In the seventh, Clark had a clutch RBI triple followed by a Vanhille RBI single, upping the margin to 6-1. Feather River made things dicey with a two-run home run by Joe Bath in the top of the ninth to cut it to 6-5, but Ohlone reliever Andrew Amato recovered to earn the save.
Skuija allowed just four hits and one earned run with five walks and seven strikeouts over five innings.
“It wasn’t my perfect day, but I still had to battle through for the guys and put up a decent start for the team and see where it took me,” Skuija said.
A transfer from University of British Columbia, Skuija is loving life at Ohlone after signing late. His demeanor clearly reflects that.
“I’m really glad that I came here,” he said. “Every day and every week and every win that we get is just awesome. It’s a great experience. I love this team.”
So how did he find his way to the scenic Fremont campus? Skuija says he emailed the top 10 or 15 programs in California last summer after sitting out a season. Curran moved the quickest.
“Coach Curran called me back right away, and he was like, ‘Hey, I heard you were interested. We’d love to get you down for a visit.’ He was super-enthusiastic and I came down that week, I was up in Canada. He was all over it, he wanted to get me here and made it happen.”
Skuija has been making it happen all season. He leads the state with a 1.31 ERA.
SOFTBALL
The Ohlone softball team (32-12) dropped a hard-fought battle against Reedley (29-10-1) 3-0 Friday in Game 1 of Round 2 of the CCCAA NorCal Regional.
The teams will meet again at noon Saturday when the No. 5 seeded Renegades will need a win against the 11th seeded Tigers to stay alive. A third game would follow, if necessary.
Ohlone coach Julie Marshall is confident her team can rebound.
"The best part is we didn't even show what we did (this season) today," Marshall said. "So, they come out and play and I'm very confident we can take two tomorrow."
Ohlone received another strong effort from freshman starter Ana Beard, an All-State pitcher who allowed four hits and no earned runs over six innings, but the Tigers broke open a scoreless tie with three in the top of the seventh. Selena Gomez had two of Ohlone's four hits.
Reedley starter Emily Grimbleby was impressive firing a four-hitter, striking out 10 and walking two over seven innings.

Photo by Donald Jedlovec