After a week off due to Modesto City Schools going on spring break, the varsity baseball programs of Turlock and Pitman high schools were finally able to wash away the bitterness of tough doubleheader losses on March 21 by each securing wins on Monday.
At Downey High in Modesto, the Pride cruised to a 9-2 victory. Back at Mark de la Motte Field on the campus of Turlock High, the Bulldogs edged out Enochs by a 4-1 score.
Turlock, Pitman and Enochs now have matching 2-2 records against conference opponents and are tied for third place in the Central California Athletic League standings, looking up at Downey and Gregori, who each have 3-1 league records.
The Bulldogs will be on the road for the second installment of the three-game series on Wednesday, while the Pride will play host to their second game the same day. Each first pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
The Pride handled business fairly quickly on Monday, backed by a dominant pitching performance from senior Noah Cervantes, who tossed a complete game in which allowed one earned run on two hits and three walks while striking out eight.
His brother, Nathan, drove in two runs on three hits. He struck early, smacking an RBI double to deep right field before coming around to score on a home run from junior Ben Vilhauer in the first inning. While nobody else in the lineup has been able to clear a fence yet, it was Vilahuer’s second homer of the year.
Three singles, two walks, an error, and a steal of home by junior Jackson Way contributed to a three-run third inning, with the rest of the runs coming from junior Nolan Walker and Noah Cervantes RBI doubles in the fifth inning.
A similarly stellar pitching performance was turned in by Turlock’s Jaron Rocha. In his own complete game, the senior struck out six while holding the Eagles to just three hits, with the lone run reaching on an error and scoring on a sac-fly in the final frame.
Like Cervantes, Rocha helped his own cause, plating the first run of the game with an RBI single in the second inning. Senior Andrew Sevilla extended the lead to 2-0 when he stole home in the fourth before fellow classman Josh Ramirez drove in the last two on a single later in the inning.
The Pride are 6-7 overall while the Bulldogs are now 4-6-1 on the year.
