Despite being seeded #20, eight spots below the #12 Monterey Peninsula College Lobos, American River came out on top, winning game one 7-4 at Feather River College in Quincy on Friday.  Sophomore RHP Ethan Palumbo (Antelope) got touched early as the sophomore struck out the first batter he faced, but the pitch was in the dirt and got away from C Eli Campbell (Cordova) allowing the batter to reach base.  The 2^nd batter homered over the center field fence on a 1-2 pitch to put the Lobos up 2-1.  The Beavers had an uphill battle as they were facing the state leader in strikeouts, but after getting a run in the first inning, the Beavers got the lead back in the 3^rd inning as freshman RF Brandon Pelechowicz (Yuba City) doubled off the center field fence to score SS Bryce Sabatke (River City) from first.  CF Dylan Westbrook (Oak Ridge) in his first game back from a broken rib singled home Pelechowicz to put the Beavers up 3-2.  The Lobos tied the game in the 5^th with an RBI double off of Palumbo, who went 6 innings and struck out 5.  Monterey took the lead in the 6^th with an unearned run with 2 outs.  But the Beavers wouldn't stay down for long, as Sabatke singled in a pair of runs in the top of  the 7^th to put ARC up 5-4.  LF Jackson Nichols (Valley Christian) launched his first home run of the season over the fence in left-center to give the Beavers a 6-4 lead.  ARC got an insurance run in the 9^th with an RBI single by 2B Lance Sabatke (River City).  Freshman RHP Ayden Dringenberg (Oakmont) worked a scoreless 3 innings of relief, allowing just one hit including a 3-up, 3-down 9^th inning to give the Beavers the win.

With Feather River winning game two over Monterey Peninsula in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion, it creates a best 2 of 3 scenario between the Beavers and the host Golden Eagles, who are seeded #5 in Northern California.  Due to the threat of thunder storms on Sunday, the teams will play a double-header on Saturday, beginning at noon.  Game 2 will be approximately 30 minutes after the first game.  The final game, if necessary will be on Sunday, with the time still to be determined due to the potential storm.