Blaze Season Comes to an End with 7-2 Loss

A wild ride that began the first week of April came to its conclusion on a Tuesday night in Visalia, as the Bakersfield Blaze dropped game four of the Northern Division Finals, 7-2, to the Visalia Rawhide, and lost the series 3 games to 1.

On this night, the Blaze just simply lacked the manpower to stay tight. Layne Somsen (L, 0-1), making his first official start (he had made two spot-starts this year), breezed through the first three innings of the game, but as relievers tend to do, ran out of gas in the 4th.

The Rawhide put two runners aboard, and Somsen managed to get two outs, but a pop fly that landed just fair down the left field line plated two Rawhide runs and the adrenaline seemed to wear off. Two more hits led to two more runs, and the Blaze were suddenly in a 4-0 hole.

The Blaze pen came on to start the 5th, and the Rawhide immediately added two more off Sean Lucas for a 6-0 lead.

Bakersfield showed some fight, however, scoring two in the 6th on a Harold Riggins two-run single to plate Sean Buckley and Juan Perez, but Bako would get no closer.

The Rawhide used five different pitchers on the night, and the pairing of Kyle Schepel and Joey Krehbiel worked the final three innings to hold Bakersfield at bay.

The win ends up going to Keith Hessler (W, 1-0), who worked two innings in middle relief.

The greater story, of course, is the season gone by, as Bakersfield, the first half champions in the Cal League North, were once again ousted in the second round of the playoffs (the same scenario took place in 2012). By all accounts a very successful season, Bakersfield still has not been to the Cal League finals since 2000, and that drought will last until at least 2015.

The club will pick up the pieces in the offseason and open next year April 9 - mark your calendars - it'll be here before you know it!