American River College managed to win one and lose one this week.  Thursday saw the Beavers host the College of San Mateo for the first time in over 25 years.  The two teams hadn't played since San Mateo defeated the Beavers in the 2005 playoffs at Cosumnes River College.  And the Bulldogs took it to the Beavers on Thursday.  They took advantage of several 5^th inning miscues to put together a 9 run inning and defeat ARC 16-3.  Freshman RHP Ayden Dringenberg (Oakmont) was a little shaky in the first inning, allowing four runs, but then he cruised through the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th innings.  The wheels fell off in the 5^th though as the Beavers committed four errors and had several other miscues such as losing a ball in the sun and diving for a ball in the outfield, not coming up with it thus allowing the batter to get to third for a triple.  Sophomore LHP Quincey Carr (Whitney) threw 3 1/3 innings of solid relief for ARC.

The Beavers were able to get right a little bit on Friday as they traveled to Oakland to face Laney College.  The Beavers got on the board in the first inning when freshman RF Brandon Pelechowicz (Yuba City) grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs to bring in a run.  Laney tied the score in the 5^th but the Beavers came right back in the 6^th to take the lead on a bases loaded fielders choice by sophomore 2B Lance Sabatke (River City). ARC got some much needed insurance runs in the 8^th when sophomore 1B Jose Vega (Highlands) singled up the middle to plate two runs and put the Beavers up 4-1.  Laney scored a pair in the 9^th to make the score 4-3 but that is as close as the Eagles would get.

Sophomore RHP Ethan Palumbo (Antelope) was outstanding on the day. Cruising through the 8^th inning only allowing one run. The first two batters in the 9^th reached but freshman Ben Bowers (Folsom) came in to shut the door and earn his first collegiate save. Palumbo faced 32 batters on the day, threw 24 first pitch strikes, and only had two 3 ball counts during the outing, one of which was to lead off the 9^th. He scattered 6 hits while striking out 4 and only walking 1.

The Beavers are scheduled to travel to San Mateo on Tuesday, weather permitting.