By Daniel Barrera

VALLEJO, CA – Mistakes on defense and a lack of situational hitting on the part of the Vallejo Admirals doomed them on Sunday afternoon as they were defeated by the Pittsburg Diamonds 13-7 at Wilson Park. Pitcher Roman Gomez was tagged with the loss in a rough outing that lasted only four innings.

The uphill climb started early for Vallejo as Pittsburg’s Jordan Hinshaw led the game off with a double. This was followed by an RBI double from Brian Guinn that drove in Hinshaw. Guinn himself was driven in after first advancing on a passed ball with Andrew Rubalcava up, then being driven in on an RBI single by Mike Taylor giving the Diamonds a two run lead at the end of the first inning. Gomez gave up two more runs in the second inning that started once again with a double, this time from Diamond’s left fielder Brandon Williams. He scored on an error by Admirals’ right fielder Tim Williams, who dropped a routine fly ball off the bat of Ian Hagenmiller. Hagenmiller then advanced to third on an error by second baseman Alian Silva before being driven in on a ground ball RBI by Tyler Nordgren to make it 4-0 at the end of two innings.

Vallejo struck back in the bottom of fourth inning scoring three runs. Gerald Bautista started the inning with a double of his own, and was driven in on two consecutive base hits, first from Wilfredo Petit to advance him to third, and then from Joe Hicks, who supplied the RBI single. Alian Silva then knocked in Petit with a single and moved Hicks over to third. Hicks then scored two batters later when Gadiel Baez singled him home. After four innings, the Admirals had made it a game at 4-3.

This is as close at the Admirals would get though at the Diamonds immediately answered in the top of the fifth inning with three runs, chasing Gomez from the game. Justin Hertzmann came on in relief but another run from Pittsburg in the top of the sixth extended the Diamonds lead to 8-3. The Admirals did come back to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Pittsburg answered right back with a run of their own in the top of the seventh against Admiral Joe Watson to make the score 9-5.

Momentum appeared to swing in the Admirals’ favor when Gerald Bautista muscled up on a pitch for a two-run homer to left field that hit off the outfield scoreboard but that would be the last of the runs for the home team. Vallejo had numerous opportunities beforehand, but ended up grounding into a debilitating four double plays in the game, killing any possible scoring innings before they even started. Those runs would have come in handy against a Pittsburg team that kept on scoring as the Diamonds eventually ended up with 13 runs total after a four run top of the ninth. Vallejo was charged with four errors throughout the contest, and couple with 18 Diamond hits, gave themselves little chance to win. With the loss the Admirals fell to 12-18 on the season, while the Diamonds improved to .500 on the year at 15-15. Vallejo will have Independence Day off and then look to regroup on Tuesday when they host the San Rafael Pacifics. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

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