The Marysville Drakes, an independent professional baseball team, appears to be on a roll after beating Vallejo 10-7 at home on Saturday for their sixth win in seven games, bringing their winning percentage to over .500 with an 11-10 record.
Marysville remains in third place in the Pecos League Pacific Division heading into the final of a two-game series against reigning league champion San Rafael at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Marysville is 1-3 against Pacific (16-4) this year. After a 13-2 loss to San Rafael on Father’s Day, Marysville enters Tuesday at 11-11.
“Right now our pitching staff is a little weak. We’d like to get a couple more pitchers,” Marysville field manager Bill Logan said after Saturday night’s win over Vallejo. “We lost one to the Pioneer League, which is a higher level than us. That’s the goal, so I’m very happy for him, but it’s a blow to the team and we have to fill that hole.”
Offensively, Marysville is hitting well during its six-game winning streak. The second-year Yuba-Sutter franchise ranked sixth in the Pecos League batting standings last week, scoring 10 or more runs three times during its 6-2 winning streak. On Saturday, Drakes scored eight runs in the first inning on a grand slam to right-center field by Caleb Hammond, and Marysville took an 8-0 lead over Seaweed (6-13).
Hammond led the Marysville offense with six RBIs, but the offense struggled to beat Vallejo, as the visitors scored seven runs to outscore Marysville, 7-2, and bring home a potential score to tie the game in the top of the ninth.
“We were up by eight and we let them score,” Logan said. “I preach killer intelligence and beating the other team and we didn’t do that tonight. We should have scored more and made everybody’s life easier.”
Marysville ultimately recorded its sixth win in seven tries and beat Seaweed for the second night in a row.
He’ll be looking for more offense throughout tonight’s game to spark a team that sometimes needs that extra boost to seal a win.
“It takes a lot to win a baseball game — good pitching, catching, timely hitting and being smart on the bases,” he said. “(Saturday) we scored two runs in the last seven innings against a struggling team, but we should do better.”
Jaden Drake pitches third no-hitter in the league
Pecos League rookie Jayden Drake, a Texas native, threw his second no-hitter in a week and the third in the Pecos League’s 14-year history on Friday night at Bryant Field in Marysville, beating Vallejo, 4-0.
Drake struck out eight and walked two in this stellar outing.
“Jaeden Drake was phenomenal,” Logan said. “He was just awesome and it was a fun night. It was a historic night. He signed all of us scorecards and baseballs so he has some memorabilia. Any time you pitch a no-hitter at any level, you should be proud of that.”
Logan said he will likely pitch again on Friday when Marysville travels to Martinez (9-14).
Marysville returns home on Wednesday to host Vallejo at 6:30 p.m. at Bryant Field.
How to stream Marysville games from home https://www.meridix.com Pay per match and search for the Marysville Drakes.
