Story by Brendan Hamilton
TAFT, CA – After taking the first game of the series, and losing the second, Taft College was in for a battle in the third game of the series against Fresno City College. Going into Fresno would be a tough battle, but with Kaleb Hay on the mound anything could happen. Hay went 8 innings of 5 run baseball to give the Cougars a chance to beat the reigning Central Valley Conference champions. Fresno went up early in the first taking a 1-0 lead, but the Cougars responded in the top of the second with a bases loaded walk. With the game even, Taft would score 3 runs in the fourth to take the lead 4-1 on a couple of singles and a groundout. Fresno quickly responded by scoring 2 in the bottom of the fifth to shorten Taft's lead to 4-3. However, the Cougars scored 2 in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to 6-3 heading into the late innings. An unrelenting Fresno team scored 2 in the bottom of the eighth, and 1 in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 6 apiece, and this game would need extra innings.
Eric Godinez came in strong from the bullpen and shut Fresno down, allowing the Cougar offense to score. In the top of the twelfth inning, Jackson Berry hit a triple, allowing Jesus Gonzalez to score from second base, as well as breaking the stalemate. With Berry on third, Ethan Kelly singled down the right field line to give a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the twelfth. Godinez continued to shut the door, and Fresno could not get anything started allowing Taft to take the game and the series. The final score was 8-6 in Taft's favor.