These Eagles Can Hit, and it Showed in Series Win Over Shasta

Offense hasn't usually been a problem this season for the Eagle baseball team, which is scheduled to conclude an eight-game homestand this Thursday and Friday against conference-leading Feather River.

The 2026 Eagles have a .293 team batting average, .375 team on-base percentage and are averaging 6.5 runs per game. Compare that team batting average to the recent past: it was .238 in 2023, .239 in 2024, and .256 last year.

Ten of this year's regulars have batting averages of .270 or above, including 6 who are above .300 and 2 other in the .290s.

All that offense, and some good starting pitching, helped the Eagles have their best conference weekend of the season in late March, when they took 2 of 3 from the Shasta Knights.

Sophomore outfielder Nakea Kahalehau leads the team and is fifth in conference among qualifying players with a .378 batting average. He also leads the team with a .459 on-base percentage and ranks 5th in conference with 15 stolen bases, a notch below freshman teammate Josh Berry, who has swiped 18 bags.

Freshman outfielder Owen Abrams is hitting .356 and with a .397 on-base percentage; freshman pitcher/catcher/DH Maicah Cabral is hitting .343 with a .361 on-base percentage; freshman shortstop Jayden Arbogast is at .333 and .387; sophomore third baseman Davin Aea-Kubota .319 and .394; sophomore first baseman Max Rossmeier .301 and .418; sophomore second baseman Alyuss Duenez .298 and .395; freshman leftfielder Josh Berry .291 and .389; freshman outfielder Colton Knight .286 and .403; and freshman catcher Ismael Hinajosa .270 and .299.

Rossmeier leads the team with 26 runs batted in, which ranks 9th among GVC hitters.

The defense has mostly been good, too. The Eagles rank third among Golden Valley Conference teams with a .958 team fielding percentage.

And while these Eagles have doubled their win total from a year ago, they're 10-23 overall and 4-15 in conference with 6 games to play.

Pitching has been a work in progress. Their two most effective starters, freshmen Gunnar Tinari and Maicah Cabral, weren't part of the starting pitching plans when the season began. Head coach Tevin Cadola said Tinari came to the team as a centerfielder, then started the season as the closer. But he moved into a starting role after the team had so few late leads early in the season. "He's one of our better arms, and his best attribute is that he's not scared of anything; he's not afraid to fail," Cadola said.

Cabral, one of team's top hitters, began the season as a catcher and caught often early in the season. After some injuries to other pitchers, "We had to make some adjustments and established who could pitch," Cadola said. "Maicah was one of the guys. As our third starter, he's been the most consistent… He pitched a little in high school, but didn't come in saying, "If you need me to pitch…'"

Tinari and Cabral both had strong outings when the Eagles won two of three against Shasta at home the weekend of March 27 and 28.

Tinari pitched 6 2/3 innings in the March 27 game, during which Shasta scored 5 unearned runs in a messy top of the third. But the Eagles came right back to score 5 in the bottom half and take a 6-5 lead, as Hinajosa had a two-run single, Aea-Kubota and red-shirt freshman Jacob Damore both had run-scoring singles and Aea-Kubota scored on an error.

Freshman relief pitcher Andrew Padilla, the eventual winning pitcher, got the final out in the 7th inning to hold the one-run lead, then gave up the tying run in the 8th, Shasta's only earned run of the game.

Again the Eagles answered in the bottom half, as Arbogast singled to drive home Aea-Kubota with the go-ahead run, then Damore scored from first on Berry's fielder's choice ground ball and a Shasta throwing error.

Sophomore relief pitcher Davin Almeida pitched the 9th and earned a save after allowing a lone single, clinching the 8-6 victory.

Arbogast would again drive home the winning run in much more dramatic fashion in the second game of the March 28 doubleheader, which followed a 12-2, seven-inning Eagle loss in game one.

But true to Coach Cadola's belief in his team's "grit" and "zero give-up mentality," the Eagles turned it around in the nightcap.

Cabral was mowing down the Knights, allowing just 4 hits and 1 run through 8 innings, while the Eagles scored 1 in the 1st and 3 in the 4th on a two-run single by Kahalehau and a run-scoring single by Hinajosa.

Cabral started the 9th inning, but allowed 2 runs, including a lead-off solo home run. Shasta's offense continued to click after Cadola brought in Almeida with no outs, and he allowed 3 hits and two more runs.

Suddenly Shasta had a 5-4 lead and that lead was still on the board with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.

Then Hinajosa kept hope alive with his third hit of the game, a double, and Shasta chose to put the winning run on base by intentionally walking Aea-Kubota. Cadola put Colton Knight in as a pinch runner at second, and his head-first slide at the plate after a single to center by designated hitter Owen Abrams tied the score. Cadola called it "one of the most athletic slides you'll see." The centerfielder made a strong throw a little to the catcher's left, and Knight adjusted his route, raised his right arm while sliding and avoided the tag.

When Arbogast hit a hard grounder through the hole between short and third for his third hit of the game, Aea-Kubota scored from third standing up and pandemonium ensued: The Eagles all flew out of their dugout and swarmed towards Arbogast for a wild celebration in right field.

"So many guys stepped up in big situations," Cadola said. "It was awesome to win a series. It's all about trusting the process and maintaining a sense of belief. They're doing absolutely all I can ask of them."

Cadola says Arbogast is one of the Eagles' grittiest players. "He's undersized and was overlooked, but he has a lot of heart and plays his butt off every day. He makes all the routine plays; he's a clutch guy and he loves the game."

The coach praised his four sophomore everyday players, Kahalehau, Duenez, Rossmeier, and Aea-Kubota for being "great representatives of our culture and work ethic, and the freshmen love it."

He said assistant coaches Nick Thielman and James Frisbie established a better routine that has led to the team's improved play in the field. Although that improved play wasn't always evident during last weekend's three losses to Butte, the Eagles .958 team fielding percentage is within .05 percent of a top 25 ranking in the state.

Also of note, in the first game of the March 28 doubleheader against Shasta, the starting pitchers for both teams were former Yreka High School teammates Klayton Rizzardo for the Eagles and Lucas Day for the Knights. Day, a starter for the Eagles last year, "beat us up," Cadola said. The Eagles produced just 3 hits and 1 run over 6 innings against Day.

In Friday's game gainst Butte, the Eagles scored 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held an 8-5 lead before the Roadrunners tied it with 3 runs in the 8th and won it 10-8 with 2 runs in the 9th.

The Eagles had 14 hits in that game, including 3 by Arbogast and 2 each by Duenez, Rossmeier, Aea-Kubota, Abrams, and Knight.

Butte then swept Saturday's doubleheader 16-6 and 9-2.

After this week's games against Feather River, whose 18-1 GVC record is six games better than second place Lassen, the Eagles will be on the road to face Redwoods (2-17 GVC and 4-28 overall ) on April 17 and 18, then return home to finish the season against Lassen April 23 and 24.

All three Eagle spring sports teams will be at home April 10: baseball vs Feather River at noon, softball vs Redwoods at noon and 2 pm, and beach volleyball vs Butte at 11 am and Lassen at 1 pm.

By Steve Gerace