KNIGHTS DROP PCAC OPENER, 6-5, TO MESA

The Knights rallied back from a 3-run deficit to tie Mesa in the eighth inning, but the Olympians scored a run in the top of the ninth to win the opening game of conference play, 6-5. 

Freshman shortstop Anthony Warneke went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Sophomore right fielder Tyler Flores was 2-for-3 on the day with a triple and two runs. 

Mesa got a run in the top of the first, but the Knights responded in the bottom of the first with a run of their own. Flores tripled to center field and then came home on Diego Blanco's ground out. 

Starting pitcher Frank Lopez helped his own cause in the second inning with a lead-off triple and then scored to give City a 2-1 lead on Warneke's single. 

Mesa had a big fifth inning with four runs off five hits to take a 5-2 lead. 

The Knights got one back in the bottom of the fifth when yet another triple led to a run. This time it was Austin Ellery who led the inning off by hitting a triple off the left field fence. Scott Martinez followed with a single through the left side that scored Ellery.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Knights loaded the bases on a Flores single, a pinch-hit walk by Dylan Dudley, and a John Salda hit-by-pitch. Lopez, now as the designated hitter, blooped one into shallow right field to score a run. 

Warneke then hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Dudley to tie the game at 5-5.

In the top of the ninth, Mesa's Alex Emerick reached on a walk and made his way to third base on a wild pitch and throwing error. He then scored what turned out to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Eliopulos.

City fell to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the PCAC. The Knights will play three consecutive road games beginning on Thursday, March 3 at Imperial Valley.