Rams Baseball Team Looks to Flip the Script on its Reputation for Losing

by Henry Crowell
henrycrowell5@gmail.com

 

PACIFICA — After its first game and loss of the 2025 season against Contra Costa College, the Rams baseball team looks to bounce back, working hard towards a winning season.

Following a late-game comeback by the Comets, City College dropped a close game on Friday, Jan. 24, losing 6-4 at Fairmont Field.

Rams freshman starting pitcher Elijah Heredia was solid, surrendering just one earned run in five innings, striking out eight batters and allowing three hits. However, his control was shaky at times, as he gave up three walks and hit two Comets batters.

Heredia was relieved by freshman pitcher Wyatt Rowland. In four innings of work, Rowland let in two earned runs on four hits, walking four and taking the decision in the loss.

“When you have a loss, you have to learn from it,” Rams coach Mario Mendoza said. “We have to bounce back, we have to learn from our mistakes, we have to eliminate walks, we have to have better approaches in our plate discipline. We just have to play better baseball.”

The Rams’ next game is against Gavilan College at 2 p.m. on Feb. 6 at Maloney Field on the San Francisco State campus. 

“It’s the first game, and some of these kids – they’re nervous the first game. So hopefully after this game they relax a little bit, and now it’s go-time. Like I told them today, I know it’s college baseball, but it’s just baseball. Early in the game, they tried to do too much and wanted to be a hero. So I think we calmed down a bit before the end, and I think we’ll be alright.”

The Rams could not capitalize fully on multiple chances to break the game open, including in the eighth inning, when with the bases loaded and two outs, freshman catcher Abraham Duran struck out.

In the following frame, the Comets would score the go-ahead run that would have been an out, if not for a play at the plate that resulted in the ball becoming dislodged from backstop Duran’s glove.

“We have a good group here,” said Rowland. “It was a rough start, but we’re gonna start winning some games.”

Mendoza said his expectations for the season are to be “the hardest-working team, being a team that plays with passion, a team that never gives up, a team that deals with adversity well, a team that loves each other.”

“If one of us eats, we all eat. That’s my expectation,” he said.

Freshman left fielder Kaden Healy went 2-3 in the game, scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning after tripling into the right-center gap. 

“I want us to have a good season, I want us to have fun, and I want us to flip the table for what City College is known for, and that’s losing,” Healy said. “And I think we have the squad up here to turn things over and open some people’s eyes.

“The camaraderie is there; we just have to learn how to play together a little bit more, and that just comes with time,” he said. “There are a lot of new guys up here, so we just have to get used to each other, and that doesn’t come within two games — that comes within four or five — and you start understanding how each other plays and getting on the same pitch.”

Mendoza said his focus this season has been on developing his players, making them bigger, stronger, and faster, and teaching them the game. 

“A lot of these guys come from programs where they weren’t coached, they didn’t see much competitiveness,” he said. “This level’s cutthroat. If you’re not ready, it’s gonna eat you up.”

Rowland said that he’s been improving his fastball command. 

“Our coach is heavy on ‘command your fastball’ before going to changeups or sliders, anything off-speed,” he said. “So I really just need to command my fastball and throw them off with some off-speed pitches.”

Freshman third baseman Gary Ford said he chose City College because of “the opportunity I was given to be able to come here and play baseball. Because where I was last year, I didn’t have the ability to play or get as many at-bats as I’m going to this year.”

Ford, an Idaho native, said, “Idaho in the springtime, during the season, it’s pretty cold, so your arms are hurting when you’re throwing.” 

“I’m making sure I’m doing my band work, and making sure I’m getting my arm loose,” he said.

On how the team geared up for the season, Mendoza said, “We’ve just been working, working, working since August — every day, five, six days a week, busting our butts getting ready for the challenge.

“It’s going to be a long year,” Mendoza said. “We put in the work, and now it’s time to execute and get the job done.“