Senior pitcher Ryan Bereznak earns the win for the Chester Volcanoes in last Friday’s playoff game against Redding Christian. Photo by Shannon Morrow

Shannon Morrow

Trailing 7-2 with 1-1/2 innings left in its home playoff game against Redding Christian last Friday, it wasn’t looking good for the Chester High School baseball team.

But in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Chester Volcanoes racked up eight runs to snatch the lead and soon after walked away with a 10-7 victory.

The win advanced third-seeded Chester to the Northern Section Division V semifinal playoff game Tuesday, May 15, against second-seeded Fall River. The results weren’t know at press time, but will be posted at plumasnews.com.

In last Friday’s first-round match-up, Redding Christian scored two runs in the top of the first inning and one run in the third to take a 3-0 lead.

Chester’s first run came in the bottom of the third inning. A leadoff walk, a single by Hunter Morris and then another walk loaded the bases, allowing Chris Brown to knock in an RBI single.

Redding Christian responded with a run in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ryan Bereznak led off with a double, and then Cole Conner got to second base on a Redding Christian error, bringing Bereznak home and cutting Chester’s deficit to two.

Redding Christian added three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 7-2 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Chester sophomore Tim Cronan hit a lead-off single, which prompted a pitching change by Redding Christian.

John Gustin and Damian Browning each followed with walks to load the bases for the Volcanoes.

Morris delivered an RBI single, Bereznak followed with an RBI double and then Colin Houlihan hit an RBI single.

A passed ball allowed Chester one more run to tie the game, and then an RBI double by Conner gave the Volcanoes the lead, still with no outs.

At this point, Redding Christian changed it pitcher again, and then Brown recorded an RBI double off a Redding Christian error.

Westley Ruffer finished the scoring with an RBI single that gave Chester a 10-7 lead.

Chester pitcher Bereznak took care of business in the seventh inning to finish with a complete game and earn the win.

The victory improved the Volcanoes’ overall record to 14-10.