The City College baseball team lost a close but exciting game with Chabot College at Union Stadium on Feb. 1 by a score of 7-5.

The first pitch was thrown on a Friday afternoon, both teams were choppy in the beginning of the game with no runs scored in the first inning. The Panthers gave up several walks and few hits because of pitching, which left the score 3-0 by the second inning.

A little excitement was created in the third inning when the umpire called a “foul tip” and was then reversed by another umpire as a foul ball.

City College fan Ted Harris, said he noticed the pitch thrown by Chabot College clearly hit the ground before the batter made contact with the ball.

Chabot was again able to score another two runs by the bottom of the third inning which left the score 5-0.

Starting pitcher Mike Torrence, 18, as well as pitcher Aaron Appino are two of many freshmen on the team who are new to college baseball.

Both agree that the Panthers need to improve their pitching.

As the game played on, the Panthers played more aggressively and scored two runs in the fourth inning as well as another two runs in the fifth inning. Their defense was well played and kept Chabot College from scoring for three whole innings. Overthrowing bases were errors that both teams made which resulted in many stolen bases.

More conflict was brought to hand while rounding the bases in the fifth inning from a huge hit from City College, one of the players failed to step on a base, which resulted in a player being called out.

“The team made key mistakes and basically got taken advantage of,” said Coach Andy McKay.

By the end of the sixth inning the score was finally tied with a huge comeback from City College. As hard as the Panthers played, they were unable to keep Chabot from scoring another two runs in the eighth inning. City College was unable to make another comeback through the remainder of the game.

“The team competed well and played hard, but still needs work on trying to get better,” said McKay.