After falling just short of defending their Central California Athletic Alliance title last season, the Turlock Christian baseball program finds themselves in a prime position to reclaim the crown.

On Friday night at Pedretti Park, the Eagles soared to a dominant 10-2 win over league rival Millennium of Tracy (4-2). It came two days after they beat the Falcons 5-4 on the road in the first game of the series. 

The win gives TC a 4-1 record against conference opponents with five games to go. They are only looking up at Venture Academy of Stockton in the standings, who sport a 5-0 record and whom the Eagles will take on in the final series of the season in two weeks.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after the first inning catapulted by the first five batters reaching base, Winston York, the starting pitcher batting third, began the scoring with an RBI single before the second run came around on an error. The lead extended to 3-0 on a fielder's choice, then to 4-0 on a Max Salas sac-fly, An RBI knock by Braden Small and another fielding error resulted in the last two runs of the rally.

After a clean first inning, York ran into some trouble on the mound. He surrendered a leadoff hit, walked another batter, then allowed a run to score on a throwing error after the ball was hit back to the mound. The Falcons capitalized on the extra opportunity by nabbing another run via an RBI double to make it 6-2.

From that point forward, the sophomore right-hander settled in, tossing three scoreless innings before reliever Cam Kelley shut the door on the Falcons in the final two frames.

York earned his second win of the year, striking out eight while allowing the two runs on five hits and a walk.

“We kind of just played sloppy,” York said. “Weren't playing as hard as we could and let them tag us. I walked the guy then made an error at first, got into the third then made another error… I think getting through that was just about staying positive, telling everyone we're good and that we still got a lead, just encouraging everyone.”

Following the mini-Millennium surge, the Eagles added a pair of runs in the eighth on a Kelley single and a Starn fielder’s choice. The last two runs on the board came in the fifth, when Michael Miller recorded a sac-fly and York gave himself insurance with an RBI single.

“I told the kids that we're back in control of our own destiny after we dropped one to Ben Holt, a new team to our league, (8-1 on March 28), but we're back in again, controlling what we can control,” said head coach Bill York. “We did that today, I think. After we faltered there in the second, I tried to tell them, ‘Hey, there's lots of game left, so you've got to stay composed. You got to flush it, can't dwell on the negative.’ They kept a positive attitude and their kept up the effort, and it paid off.”

The Turlock Christian Redemption Tour continues Monday against River Islands of Lathrop, once again under the lights of Pedretti Park at 7 p.m. The Eagles won in their first meeting on March 31 by a 13-2 score.

“I think we have some good momentum,” said the TC skipper. “So we hope to keep it going heading into (the matchup) with Venture.”