Wolverines drop final Big 8 series to Cosumnes River, narrowly miss postseason

Sierra sophomore Caden Hunter earned Big 8 Pitcher of the Year and finished the season with a 2.23 ERA and 108 strikeouts. Credit: Herb Decker
Sierra sophomore Caden Hunter earned Big 8 Pitcher of the Year and finished the season with a 2.23 ERA and 108 strikeouts. Credit: Herb Decker
Posted: May 01, 2024

It was a tough season for the Sierra College baseball team who were plagued with injuries and had two rough stretches from mid March to early April and to close out Big 8 action.

The Wolverines started the season well at 13-9, but struggled going 4-14 in the final half. Still, Sierra had a chance to make the postseason during the final series against Cosumnes River last week. After losing game one on April 23, the Wolverines edged out a 1-0 win at home on April 25 as sophomore and Big 8 Pitcher of the Year Caden Hunter threw a gem, striking out nine in a complete game two-hitter. Hunter finished the season with a 2.23 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 80.2 innings pitched.

This set up game three last Friday and a win would’ve gotten the Wolverines into the playoffs off of Rating Percentage Index (RPI). Sierra’s Masayuki Kawashima had two RBIs in the contest including a sac groundout in the fifth making it a 3-2 game in favor of the Hawks. The Wolverines got runners aboard in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but were unable to bring anyone home as they lost 6-3, missing out on the postseason by .01 in RPI behind Monterey Peninsula.

“Unfortunately, our RPI for junior college baseball needs to be fixed,” Wolverines coach Ryan Evangelho said. “We have a lot of deserving teams that either should be ranked higher and hosting home series, or they just didn’t get in when you play a schedule that includes 30 playoff teams that you faced and other teams are playing 10 playoff teams and you’re not getting any RPI for those games being played. There's some sort of problem. It’s not in line with the NCAA like it should be.”

Despite missing out on the postseason, multiple Wolverines received Big 8 honors for their play during the regular season such as Kawashima who earned Big 8 second-team and Brady Ranallo who was Big 8 third-team. Owen Faith was an honorable mention. Kawashima led the team in batting average at .303 while Ranallo batted .280 with a home run and 17 RBIs. Faith led Sierra in RBIs with 26 along with a home run.

Sierra made it to the State Playoffs in 2023 where they finished in third place behind Santa Ana and Saddleback. The Wolverines will graduate 12 sophomores, some of which like Hunter, Kawashima and Tyler Ohlson who played on the team in 2023, but will return many talented players such as Faith and CJ Ricaurte who had a 3.86 ERA on the mound.

“We’re very excited with the future of Sierra College baseball as we have a lot of really good talented players coming in for next year,” Evangelho said.