They may be playing for little more than pride at this stage, but the College of the Redwoods players are not throwing in the towel.

CR traveled to play Butte College in a three-game Golden Valley Conference baseball series over the weekend and dropped two of three games.

The Redwoods men opened with a hard-fought 17-16 win in 13 innings, but were unable to keep the momentum going, dropping games two and three, 19-6 and 7-4.

CR, which is now 4-23 on the season and 2-12 in the GVC, rallied from an early four-run deficit in game three to tie the score going into the bottom of the fifth, but would give up three late runs.

“Really happy to see the boys compete and fight in a marathon of game one and a tough game three,” CR head coach John Downey said. “While we should have had more success in the win column, there’s a lot we can grow from.”

According to the coach, it was the team’s pitching that let them down in game two and a lack of situational execution in game three, but the players continue to battle.

“There’s no quit in this group,” Downy added. “We’re seeing a lot of growth and confidence. We all hate losing more than we love winning, but seeing them fight for each other is great.”

Freshman Xavier La Pena had a big weekend for the team, finishing with multiple bae hits in all three games, including going 3-for-7 with a home run and five RBIs in the opener.

“Really great weekend for Xavier,” Downey said. “He’s a spark at the top of our lineup. He’s really fun to watch compete. Hitters in general had a solid weekend. They’re figuring it out.”

CR had 27 base hits over the three games.

Tyson Bragg also had a big game in the 13-inning series opener, finishing 3-for-7 with a double and three RBIs, while Ryan Naillon was 3-for-7 with two RBIs and Hunter Stockinger was 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI.

Neither team scored in the four first innings, before CR settled in the quicker of the two and opened up a nine-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth.

The home team, however, would respond with nine unanswered runs to force the extra innings.

CR’s Drew Franklin pitched seven strong innings for a no-decision, giving up just one earned run on six hits and three walks.

“Another quality start for Drew,” Downey said. “He continues to give us his absolute best effort. Disappointing that we couldn’t finish it and get him the W earlier, but without his fantastic effort we might not leave that game with a win.”

Five different CR pitchers threw in relief, with Michael Bernal getting the win.

Javier Mesa also had a double and four RBIs in the win.

La Pena continued to impress in game two, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while teammate Kamole Gilliland was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

La Pena added two more hits, including a triple, in game three, while Mesa was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, and Addisson Guber went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

A pair of former H-DNL standouts featured for Butte, including McKinleyville’s Kolbey Stolpe and Eureka’s Cooper Ohlsen.

Stolpe is enjoying a good freshman campaign with the Roadrunners and scored in all three games, finishing with three base hits over the three games, including a double in the opener, as well as three walks and six runs.

For the season, the 2025 McKinleyville graduate is hitting .305 with seven doubles and two home runs, and he leads his team with 32 hits and 29 runs and also has a team second-best 17 RBIs.

Ohlsen saw time on the mound in relief in game one, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks in 2.1 innings and striking out one.

Ohlsen has made six appearances for the Roadrunners this season.

Next up, Redwoods travels to play a three-game series at Lassen later this week, including a doubleheader on Friday with game one set for 11 a.m.

“If we can put all three phases together, this team can finish the season on a really high note,” Downey said. “We have yet to do that consistently, but they’re starting to come around.”

Butte is now 13-15 overall and 7-6 in the GVC.