Sacramento City College’s baseball team earned a gritty 3-2 win over Hayward’s Chabot College in a tight matchup on Thursday, Jan. 29 at Union Stadium in Sacramento, that showed clean defense, good pitching and competitiveness from the start of the game to the end, with high energy for the home opener.
Chabot College settled early in the first inning with a single to right field from Joshua Heard, after two prior singles for a quick 1-0 lead, but the City College Panthers acted fast in the bottom half of the inning. After a walk and a single, Jackson Norton scored two for the Panthers, with a single to left field, allowing for a back and forth struggle.
Sacramento City College’s Jackson Norton (12) hits a single to left field in the bottom of the first inning to score the first two runs for the Panthers in a 3-2 win against Chabot College on Thursday Jan. 29, 2026 in Sacramento, Calif. (Dylan Nester)
The home plate umpire signals safe after Cody Ferrante (4) scores in the bottom of the first inning against Chabot College on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Sacramento, Calif.
(Dylan Nester)
Both of the teams exchanged pace all throughout the game with neither team being able to recede as the pitchers and defense ran the game.
The next Panthers score happened in the third inning. Ethan Groves singled to center field, stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch, Eddie Fines would then ground out to second base and score Groves to increase the lead 3-1.
Sacramento City College’s Ethan Groves (2) slides into third base safely for a stolen base in the bottom of the third inning against Chabot College on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Sacramento, Calif.
(Dylan Nester)
Derek Sullivan, head coach of the Panthers, said that both of the teams played very well, but it was the home team’s pitching that helped secure the win.
“Well, you know, we played a good team,” Sullivan said. “We played pretty well. … It’s one of those [games] where you can look back and there’s some opportunities that we took advantage of and a couple that we didn’t. And it’s one of those games that could have gone either way, but both sides played it pretty clean and we pitched a little bit better than they did, so we’ll take it.”
The fourth inning to the sixth were clean innings from both teams, with no runs scored until Chabot started to fight back in the seventh. The Panthers gave up a single and then a walk, and two wild pitches scored Evan Wahilani Yau, but the Panthers only escaped giving up the single run after the bases were loaded with two outs.
The team’s pitching was solid, particularly toward the end when Chabot got more aggressive in the last innings. Even though they faced some difficulty, especially in the seventh inning, the Panthers stayed calm. Starting pitcher for the Panthers, Russ Pettis, pitched a clean six innings, only allowing six hits and one run, with four strikeouts. Pitcher Landon Dodge closed out the game for the Panthers to secure the win, with 2 easy popups and a strikeout.
Sacramento City College pitcher Landon Dodge (13) screams after striking out the last batter to close out the game in a 3-2 win against Chabot College on Thursday Jan. 29, 2026 in Sacramento, Calif. (Dylan Nester)
“Honestly, I thought today was pretty gritty, we were relentlessly just not giving up, especially on the defensive end, the pitching end. I mean, we definitely faced a bit of adversity towards the end of the game, and we stuck our chin down and got the job done,” said Panther infielder Cody Ferrante.
The Panthers took advantage of timely chances and created a very competitive play that allowed them to go onward.
Hayden Shoup, another player of the Panthers said this is what the team needs. “They jumped out to an early one zero lead and we responded, and from there it was just a back and forth game,” Shoup said. “In order to win state in May, that’s what we’re going to have to do, win those tight games.”
The Panthers moved to 4-1 record with the win. Their next game is against Coalinga College on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at Union Stadium.
~Additional reporting by Dylan Nester
Sacramento City College Baseball players and coaches line up in front of their dugout prior to the game against Chabot College on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Sacramento, Calif.