Today marked the first time ever that the Vista del Lago Eagles played the crosstown rival Folsom Bulldogs in a regular season baseball game. This game, three years in the making came to fruition with a lot of hard work from both Vista and Folsom families and a big hand and thanks goes out to the Folsom Flames baseball program for their help and generous donations as well.

An interesting side note was that all of Vista's seniors played their first year of high school baseball as freshmen at Folsom before the split. And if I recall correctly, all but three of those freshmen players chose to attend Vista, leaving a bit of a void at Folsom. The result was Folsom fielding a varsity team this season that consists of all juniors and a lone sophomore; very reminiscent of Vista's team last season.

The community came together to make this day more than just a high school baseball game. As I understand it, all the funds from admissions, concessions and 50/50 raffles were split between both programs.

The early games kicked off at 10 AM as the freshman and JV games ended in a split with Folsom winning the 9th grade contest and Vista taking the 10th grade game. I was glad to see high attendance and good spirits on both sides and many people stuck around for the main event, the varsity game.

Once the umpires arrived, the game got underway as junior Darian Harris took the mound for the Eagles. The Bulldogs looked to get something going early, taking advantage of two free passes and a double steal to put Daniel Wamhoff and Troy Watson at second and third with only one out. However, Harris settled down and struck out Cody Isham and got Tyler Creason to ground out to first effectively ending the threat.

Vista scored 4 runs in the home half of the first inning as Bulldog pitcher Travis Cox hit three of the first five batters he faced. Vista's Jeff Miller ripped a two-bagger to left field. David Landuk singled to right and John McCants doubled to left as Vista batted around.

Folsom was not deterred as they came charging back in the second inning. Travis Cox singled to right to lead off. Ryan Fernandez walked and Kyle Moeller had an RBI single to left. Dano Graves hit a sacrifice fly to deep center and Wamhoff drove in Moeller with a hit to right giving the feisty Bulldogs three runs.

Cox settled down in the bottom of the second, striking out two as the Eagles failed to score.

At the end of two, the scoreboard showed the Eagles up 4-3. Unfortunatley for the Bulldogs, they went three up and three down as Harris looked sharp in the third.

The Eagles effectively ended the game in the bottom of the third as they sent 14 batters to the plate and scored ten. Shane Murphy led off with a walk, Tyler Quesada walked, Landuk was intentionally walked to load the bases but McCants singled to left and Mason Reinart was the beneficiary of a bobbled ball at short. Speedy Brian Barraclough had an infield single. Cody Kalehuawehe and Brandon Flynton both showed discipline at the plate as they each earned their second walks of the game. Miller drove in two more with a single to right. Murphy walked for the second time in the inning. Tyler Quesada had his second RBI of the game as he hit a sacrifice fly to center. Landuk ended the scoring with his second hit of the inning, a double to deep right.

The Eagles closed the door when Landis Provencial took the mound in the fourth inning. He struck out the side in the fourth and only a slow roller off the tip of Watson's bat for an infield single prevented him from striking out the side in the fifth as he K'd up six of the seven batters he faced.

Vista improved to 2-1 on the season and Folsom fell to 0-1. Vista's next game is next Thursday at home against Pioneer H.S. of Woodland. Folsom will travel to Rio Americana on Monday.

To read more, check out the VISTA BASEBALL blog at http://vistabaseball.blogspot.com/. I am always looking for photos of game action. If you have any that you'd like to have posted on the blog, send them to me at vistaeaglefan@yahoo.com.