Santa Maria Indians starting pitcher Justin Grota's hard work Friday night nearly came undone.

Indians closer Chris Eusebio made sure it didn't.

The Indians went through three relief pitchers in the sixth inning as the Rattlers shaved an 8-1 deficit down to 8-7. That was the final score. Eusebio pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for his second save in as many games.

The Indians (13-9, 11-6) took the nightcap of a California Collegiate League doubleheader after the Rattlers won the first 1-0. The first game went nine innings. The second game went seven, following the usual format of an Indians league doubleheader.

“No not really,” Eusebio said if he felt any pressure because the Rattlers' hitters had gathered momentum in the sixth inning.

“I just went in there and tried to throw strikes, get the first pitch over and then use the slider,” to get outs. He did just that in an eight-pitch ninth.

After getting two hits total against three Rattlers in the first game, the Indians immediately jumped all over San Luis Obispo starter Will Keehn's pitches.

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Lead-off batter Chad Conrad, Jimmy Dodos, Josh Meagher and Manny Reyes all doubled in a five-run first inning. Dodos doubled home Conrad, Meagher knocked in Dodos, then Reyes hit a bases-clearing double.

Santa Maria manager Bobby Brown said, “Hitting is contagious, and when a lead-off guy like Chad doubles, it can get some guys who haven't hit in maybe five, six games to thinking ‘if he can do it, I can do it.'”

Eusebio said, “It always helps, of course, when you score early.”

Meagher struggled as the rest of the Indians did in the first game. However, he was just getting warmed up with his first-inning double in the nightcap. In the fourth inning of that one, he socked a 1-0 pitch from Rattlers reliever Brendan Moe over the screen behind the right field fence for the last Indian run.

“It felt good to get the swing back,” Meagher said.

Grota had a no-hitter at that point, so it seemed Meagher's home run would be just gravy on a lopsided win.

The Rattlers, hitless until the fifth inning, scored an unearned run then. Then the Indians' relief pitching didn't give Grota much relief.

Third baseman Corey Dotzler made an error in the fifth, but he snared a smash near the ground for the first out of the sixth. Then Joey Green walked three straight batters. T.J. Statsny gave up three hits and a walk around a strikeout. Suddenly, it was 8-7.

“I brought in some guys who hadn't had much work lately, and it didn't work out the way I'd drawn it up,” said Brown.

T.J. Butch relieved Statsny after the latter gave up a hit to make it 8-7. Butch promptly hit the next batter and walked the next on four pitches. Then he got Brian McConkey, one of the Rattlers' most dangerous hitters, to ground into an inning-ending force play.

Eusebio took care of the rest.

The Rattlers got to David Mittelberger just enough to take game one.

Mittelberger, the Indians' third pitcher, came on with one out in the eighth. Josh Jackson hammered the lefty's second pitch to him off the top of the right field fence and Evan Busby scored.

Mittelberger walked Graham Harrison to load the bases, then showed the type of stuff he has when he's at his best.

The Rattlers couldn't solve his curve ball well enough to get another hit, and Mittelberger struck out the side in the ninth. By then, though, it was too late.

It was too late because Rattler closer Adam Clerici struck out the side himself in the last of the ninth.

Santa Maria wasted starting pitcher Sheldon Lechuga's work. The left-handed St. Joseph graduate shut the Rattlers out on four hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Drew Dowl replaced Lechuga and took the loss because Busby, who bunted into a force play but reached first base, was his responsibility.

Rattlers starter Eddie Newman and reliever Kyle Tognazzini shut out the Indians after they loaded the bases in the sixth, on a walk to Dodos, a double midway up the left field fence by Justin Hensley and an intentional pass to Meagher with no outs.

Newman struck out Matt Bodenchuck and Ricky Rossman swinging, then left in favor of Tognazzini.

Tognazzini's first pitch was a ball to Jimmy Mittelberger. He didn't waste any time after that making the decision to bring him in look good.

He struck out Mittelberger swinging on a 1-2 pitch. The Indians didn't hit a ball out of the infield the rest of the game, though ex-St. Joseph star McConkey robbed former Righetti and Hancock College standout Dodos of a hit.

The first baseman reached high and snared Dodos' sharp line drive leading off the last of the eighth. Clerici eventually nailed down the Rattlers' win.

SM Packers 10, Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox 3

MARYSVILLE - The Packers snapped a 3-3 tie with four seventh-inning runs, then added three in the ninth.

Santa Maria improved to 19-5 this season by taking the second game of the four-game series. The Gold Sox won the first.

Jeff Farnham and Brady Shoemaker all had three hits for the Packers. Brian Jett and Kevin Sandberg both had two. Farnham, Sandberg and Blaine Wilson all doubled.

Relief pitcher Bryce Schoening got the win. He entered in the bottom of the fourth. The teams play at 7 p.m. tonight.

June 28, 2008