Taft College freshman Jordan Eldred threw seven shutout innings but the Cougars' offense and bullpen couldn't come through in a narrow 1-0 loss to visiting College of the Sequoias in Tuesday's home opener.
Eldred bounced back from a rusty opening-day start on Saturday in which he allowed a pair of runs over three innings to put together a dominating effort against the Giants just three days later. Eldred scattered five hits and was able to pitch his way out of jams after giving up doubles in the second and sixth innings. He totaled eight strikeouts and walked none.
Sequoias was up for the low scoring affair as three pitchers combined to shutout the Cougars. Riley Creech got the start for COS and went three innings, allowing a pair of hits. Chance Watson tossed 3 1/3 innings and James Freisen finished off the final inning and two-thirds.
COS scored its lone run in the top of the eighth off reliever Genta Yamazaki. After Eldred departed, the Giants strung together a hit by pitch, sacrifice bunt, and RBI single by Payton Allen. An error allowed Allen to advance to third, but Yamazaki closed the frame with a strikeout to limit the damage. Blake Logan struck out two in a scoreless ninth for TC.
Taft managed just four hits in the contest, including a one-out double by Christian Wilson in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch runner Gavyn Seifert advanced to third on a wild pitch as the potential tying run. But with two outs, Seifert was thrown out at home trying to advance.
TC dropped to 0-2 on the season while Sequoias moved to 3-0. The two squads wrap up their two-game series on Wednesday (April 14) at 2 p.m. in Visalia. The game can be viewed live online at https://vimeo.com/event/884886.