Turlock Christian baseball survived an intense pitching duel to come away with the 1-0 victory against Millennium High Monday afternoon. Pitcher Gavin Farinha was on point, like he has been for most of the season, and struck out 14 batters in seven innings.

Neither team had many opportunities with seven hits combined in the game, the Eagles were able to take advantage of one of the few with Farinha bringing Julian Espinoza home with a sacrifice fly. That would be all TC needed, because there wasn’t another run scored in the game.

“Gavin once again threw a gem, and his sacrifice fly driving in Espinoza was all he needed,” said head coach Bill York. “We had some good quality at bats against a good pitcher and I’m proud of how our guys stayed focused during such an intense game.”

With hits being at a premium, the Eagles were locked in on defense and make sure mental mistakes weren’t going to cost them the game.

“The play of the game came in the second inning, when Xavier Ruezga gunned down a runner at third after backing up an errant pickoff attempt,” said York. “It is things like that that make the difference in a close ballgame.”

Espinoza went 2-2 with a walk and a run. The other hits came courtesy Beau Blake and Rob

York, who both went 1-3. Along with striking out 14, Farinha gave up just three hits and had an RBI.

Farinha has been on a tear all season. He posts an impressive 0.00 ERA with five wins in 31 innings pitched. He also has 65 strikeouts with a 0.032 on base average.

The Eagles currently have a 10-2 record overall and a 3-0 record in league competition. Up next is the second of the two-game series against Millennium on Wednesday on the road. It looks to be another defensive battle, and the Eagles are going to need more timely hits to secure the series sweep.