'Maybe Next Year' For Rams Baseball
In their final game of the season, the City College nine were unable to surmount an offensive onslaught from the De Anza Lions
The Rams bowed out in their penultimate game of the season, falling to De Anza College 17-4. The April 23 drubbing gave them a final record of 1-38 on the year and 0-20 in conference games.
Despite the result, the Rams ended the day on a happy note with their sophomore night, celebrating players graduating from the program.
Isac Mendoza Jr., the Rams’ cornerstone first baseman, was one of the six sophomores honored after the game, and he delivered in his final game with the team. He started his day with a single in the bottom of the first inning, coming around to score after a fielder’s choice. He followed that up with a walk in the bottom of the third.
That free pass brought his total to 29, good for second among 127 players to take an at-bat in the Coast-North Conference and added to his .438 on-base percentage, which was also among the best in the conference, ranking 19th among qualified hitters.
The game itself was representative of Mendoza's season overall. “They tried to challenge me with fastballs, and I got a hit, so they stopped, and started throwing me more change-ups… so I’ve just been looking to change up the other way and staying inside the ball,” Mendoza said.
The Rams scattered 13 hits across the game to the Lions’ 16, a solid hitting performance despite the eventual result.
Sean Lee, another of the sophomores honored after the game and the ace for the Rams, was on the mound in the final game of the season, pitching 4.1 innings and surrendering 10 runs on 10 hits, with six walks and a strikeout. He turned in a valiant effort on the day that exemplified the resilience and poise Lee and the team displayed throughout the year.
The pitching staff and the team, with multiple players penciled into the starting lineup at the beginning of the year, lost to season-ending injuries.
“It devastated us, to be honest,” said Head Coach Mario Mendoza. “Our top three pitchers were out, our top three hitters were out. Three guys were ineligible… [because of that] a lot of these guys are out of position, and we didn’t prepare them [for that], they had to do it on the fly.”
Lee said that in the face of adversity, the team has held its own. “It asked a lot of people to step up, both myself and the whole team … [Everyone] would come in and just do their job, throw strikes. I think the people who were asked did a very good job.”
While he did give himself some time to revel in the post-game celebration, Coach Mendoza is already gearing up for another year of baseball. “I can’t wait until next year, until we start all over again.” Mendoza said, “It’s going to come quick. I’m gonna miss these guys.”
