Baseball

Michael Flores Goes Seven Scoreless Innings & Strikes Out 12 in Mt. SAC’s 7-0 South Coast Conference Victory Over PCC

Mar 24 2023 03:02:33

Pictured L-R: Michael Flores & Joey Rossetti

College Baseball:

Mt. SAC opened its South Coast Conference best-of-three series with visiting PCC on a high note.

And most of the thanks goes to Michael Flores.

The Mounties lefty went seven scoreless innings in a 7-0 victory over the Lancers.

Flores scattered three hits and walked three PCC batters on Thursday night.

Of Flores’ 12 strikeouts, five went down looking.

Sam Silversmith and Joey Peralta provided one scoreless inning of relief apiece.

In all, Mt. SAC pitching issued three walks and struck out a combined 14 batters.

Toshiki Kuriya had half of the Lancers’ four hits.

Patrick Garcia singled and drew a pair of walks, and Ivan Barragan went 1-for-4.

Kyle Noell was saddled with the loss.

Noell went 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits.

He walked one and fanned three Mounties’ batters.

Mt. SAC got three more off Nathan Mertens on three hits and two walks over 2/3 of an inning.

Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Joey Rossetti doubled in Alex Reynozo.

CJ Ontiveros would follow that with a two-run single, and the Mounties enjoyed a 4-0 lead.

Reynozo walked, singled twice and scored a pair of runs.

Elijah Pelayo singled and walked with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

Rossetti finished 2-for-3, with a run and three RBIs.

Damien Delgadillo walked, singled and scored twice.

In his seven innings pitched, Flores threw 105 pitches, and 69 went for strikes.

Up next: Mt. SAC travels to Brookside Park on Friday and Saturday to face PCC.

Quotable:

Mt. SAC coach, John Knott: “Mike was outstanding tonight. He was very competitive, worked fast and threw all of his pitches for strikes. He did a great job of mixing his pitches and giving us a chance for victory.”

Mt. SAC pitcher, Michael Flores: “I didn’t put any extra pressure on myself just because we have been struggling. I just wanted to keep doing what I’ve been doing and go right at them and compete. We know we have the talent and players and mindset to win, it’s just going out there and doing it. This was the most important game of the year for us to move forward as a program. I felt like I had my fastball and curveball going well tonight, with my fastball being my favorite pitch. My focus was to get ahead in the count and keep it low as possible. Once the offense got us the lead, I got a relaxing feeling and it made me want to do my job even more.”

Box Score:
PCC: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-(0)
MS: 0-1-0-0-3-3-0-0-X-(7)

Win: Michael Flores
Loss: Kyle Noell

2B: Joey Rossetti (MS)

Records: PCC (14-9, 7-5); Mt. SAC (9-14, 2-7)

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