COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Golden West Can Blame This Defeat on the Sun

Palomar, helped by the sun, defeated Golden West, 4-2, in a nonconference community college baseball game Tuesday in Huntington Beach.

Palomar’s George Krekelberg singled to open the eighth inning, chasing Golden West starter Jeff Henderson, who was replaced Jerry Maldonado. Dave Goss walked and Adrian Lopez sacrificed both runners.

Maldonado got a strikeout and appeared to have a great chance to get out of the inning when Spike Mitchell lifted a high fly toward right field.

Golden West’s Jason White turned and raced back for the ball. When he turned back toward the plate--and the sun--he had trouble finding the ball, which dropped for a two-run double.

Palomar’s Chris Adams (2-0) allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the victory for the Comets (4-3).

Henderson (1-2) pitched well for Golden West, allowing five hits and three runs, one unearned, but took the loss. He had five walks, eight strikeouts and hit two batters.

The loss was the second in a row and the fifth in six games for Golden West (3-5).

The Rustlers took a 2-1 lead on back-to-back triples by Steve Rath and Gerad Cawhorn to start the sixth. The chance for a big inning faded, though, when Osborne popped out and Cawhorn was caught off third on a ground ball hit by Jason Brissy.