Alec Gamboa pitched eight strong innings and Chet Allison and the Rams’ offense came out firing on all cylinders as Fresno City College defeated the Cabrillo Seahawks 8-3 early on Saturday afternoon, ending the series and advancing into round two of the CCCAA Northern California playoff bracket.

“He’s a really good pitcher,” Rams’ head coach Ron Scott said of his freshman southpaw. Gamboa struck out nine, walking only one in eight innings of work.

Gamboa threw 100 pitches, 72 for strikes in a game that seemed to revolve around an 0-2 count for Cabrillo’s batters for much of the game.

Chet Allison gave the Rams an early 1-0 lead, driving a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall in the top of the first. The Rams would not have to wait long for more production.

Four straight singles led to two more Rams runs to start off the third inning. Two passed balls followed by a Josh May single extended the Rams’ lead to 6-0 by the end of the third inning, and the Rams never looked back.

“Right now we’re playing the way you’re supposed to play at the end of the year,” coach Scott said of the team’s offensive production carrying over from Friday’s 8-4 victory over Cabrillo. “We’re thrilled about everything we’re doing.”

Cabrillo scored one run in the bottom of the fourth after an errant pickoff throw moved the Seahawks’ runner from first all the way to third. Gamboa and the Rams remained on the attack following the run, forcing a groundout and ending the inning on a strikeout by Gamboa.

“We had to come out early, and our bats were alive this whole series,” Gamboa said of being able to pitch with a lead given to him by the Rams’ offense. “Yesterday we put up 15 hits, today we put up another 10 plus. Kohl [Simas] started off for us yesterday and when you have great pitching and great hitting, it’s amazing to play baseball.”

Kohl Simas, playing first base today after pitching on Friday’s game, also drive in two runs, both coming off a double in the top of the sixth inning, extending the Rams’ lead to 8-1.

The only earned run on Gamboa’s line came in the eighth inning, when Seahawks’ designated hitter Michael Hooper hit a solo home run over the left field wall, bringing the score to 8-2. Gamboa went on to retire the last batter of the eighth on a flyout to center field.

The ninth inning saw Seahawks on first and third with no out following a pitching change to Jiovanni Saavedra, who allowed back to back hits before handing the ball to Darren Jansen. After giving up a sacrifice fly which brought the score to 8-3, Jansen struck out the remaining two batters, giving the Rams the win.

The Rams will now wait to see who they face in the upcoming rounds and whether they will host the next series. FCC is seeded sixth in the tournament, meaning that for the Rams to host more playoff games, teams seeded higher than sixth would have to lose their series to lower seeded teams.

As of right now, the Rams are on to the next round and will play again this upcoming weekend, looking to keep moving on in search of their sixth state championship, and their first since 1992.