The Shepherds split their home double header against the Long beach legends winning the first game 5-3 but losing the second by the score of 8-3. This moves the Sheps record to 10-10, still in the fourth spot in the standings.
The Pitching dominated in the first game for the Sheps as Charlie Pierce started the game for the Sheps and threw six scoreless innings while striking out Six and throwing 112 Pitches. However, the Sheps couldn't get Peirce any run support early as they were held scoreless in the first three innings as they had four strikeouts themselves.
Rhett Stein put an end to that with one swing of the bat as he hit a two-run homer over the left field wall to break the scoreless tie and give the Sheps the lead. The Sheps would add another before the inning would end as Alex Laureano would double down the line to score a runner from third and give the Shepherds a 3-0 lead heading into the fifth.
Another two-run homer extended the lead as Drew Salyers sent one into the trees over the right field wall to give Charlie Pierce some insurance runs heading into the last inning with a 5-0 lead.
Peirce got two outs in the last inning before giving up three runs as Cameron Kelly came in to finish the game and get the last out to earn his team a 5-3 win in game one of the double header.
Game 2
The second game started with a bang as Aaron Zubiate hit his team leading third homer of the year and gave the Sheps an early 1-0 lead.
The Legends got their first run a little earlier as they tied the ball game with a home run of their own in the top of the fourth to even the score at one a piece.
The Legends were not done in the fourth as they would get an RBI single to score a runner from second before another single scored two more to give them their first lead of the day and their fourth run in the inning to make it a 4-1 game.
The Shepherds would fight back in the bottom of the inning as Rhett Stein hit his second home run of the day and the fifth homer between the two games as the ball was flying out of the yard, cutting the Legends lead to two.
The Sheps weren’t done in the inning as they would load the bases before a called balk brought another runner home to make it 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth.
The Legends answered right back with a solo and a three run homer in the fifth to make it back to back innings with four runs and extend their lead to 8-3.
The game would be called after the fifth and the Legends would pull out the win and split in the double header.
The Shepherds face the Legends again tomorrow, this time in Long beach with first pitch coming at 4PM. To stay up to date on all things Shepherds baseball follow us on Instagram (@shepherds_baseball), Twitter (@SoCalShpherds), Facebook (Southern California FCA Baseball) and our new Tiktok (@Shepherdsbaseball)