By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
Wyatt Smith had a big day with the bat, with a double, triple and home run, and Napa Valley College's offense was in high gear, exploding for 15 hits, as the Storm beat host Laney College-Oakland, 9-6, in a Bay Valley Conference baseball game on Thursday, March 26.
It was the second game of a three-game series.
The Storm (9-17 overall, 5-3 Bay Valley Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak.
Ian Ross and Ryan Oliveri combined to limit Laney to six hits.
Napa Valley came from behind, as it trailed 3-1 in the second inning, 4-2 in the fourth inning, and 6-3 in the fifth inning.
Smith was 3-for-3 with three extra-base hits, scored four runs and drove in one run.
Myles Gray was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.
Nico Velasquez was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Ben Menard was 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
The Storm got additional hitting from:
Ryan Rice, 1-for-4, RBI; Ty Francis, 1-for-4, run scored, RBI; Hibiki Kodama, 1-for-3, run scored; Ethan Boatman, 1-for-1, run scored.
The Storm left 13 runners on base.
Smith homered in the first inning.
Smith tripled and scored in the third inning on Rice's RBI single.
Smith doubled in the fifth inning and scored on Velasquez's RBI sacrifice fly-out to center field.
In Napa Valley's four-run sixth inning, it was Menard hitting a double and scoring on an RBI single by Francis.
Francis scored when Mason Deocampo reached on an infield error.
Gray's RBI single drove in Deocampo.
Velasquez had an RBI single, driving in Smith, who had walked.
In the ninth inning for the Storm, it was Gray delivering a two-run double, scoring Boatman and Kodama.
Kodama reached on a fielder's choice and Boatman singled.
Ross started for the Storm and got the win. Ross worked six innings and gave up five hits and six runs (all earned), walked three, struck out three, hitting one batter, while facing 27 batters.
Oliveri earned the save, pitching three shutout innings, allowing just one hit, striking out three and hitting one batter while facing 12 batters.
Napa Valley and Laney meet in the third and final game of the series on Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m. at NVC's Storm Field.
On the season, the Storm is averaging 6.9 runs per game. They have a .297 team batting average, .416 team on-base percentage, and .393 slugging percentage.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.