The baseball teams for Turlock and Pitman high schools each took on Buhach Colony this week, and each came away with shutout victories.
On Friday, the Pride carried a seven-run lead into the fifth inning and proceeded to score four times for a walk-off, mercy-rule 11-0 win in their season opener.
Two days earlier, across town at Mark de la Motte Field, the Bulldogs got a dominant pitching performance from senior Carson Gonzales — five innings pitched, no hits allowed, 11 strikeouts and just three walks — in a 7-0 triumph.
Turlock improved to 3-0 with the win, after having defeated Atwater 8-6 and Merced’s El Capitan 5-4 (8) to open the season.
Pitman’s Daniel Mazon held the Thunder hitless through four innings until burly first baseman Nate Datray — a 6-foot-1, 215-pounder — drilled an opposite-field line drive to right in the top of the fifth. It was the lone hit that Mazon would allow in five innings of work. He fanned six and walked none.
“It was a good first game,” said Pitman coach Andy Walker. “We’re a young team and first game, you’re always going to have some things you can work on. There were definitely some moments of that, but we did the big things well. We threw strikes, we played defense and we put the ball in play. Any time you do those three things you’re going to give yourself a chance to be successful.”
Offensively for the Pride, Nolan Walker, Aiden Sanchez, Justin Mayfield and Alejandro Trujillo had two hits apiece, while sophomore Jackson Way delivered a solo home to left.
On Wednesday, Gonzales turned in his second consecutive dominant performance after fanning 10 and allowing one hit in the win against Atwater.
“My fastball was all I had to throw,” said Gonzales, a 5-10, 175-pounder who also sports a curveball and change-up. “They weren’t making contact.”
Gonzales and batterymate Owen Miller had two hits apiece, with Talan Castro driving in a pair of runs.
Andrew Lujan threw two solid innings of relief in of Gonzales, striking out three of the eight batters he faced.
Buhach Colony (1-4), which has failed to score in four of its first five games this season, will host Sonora on Tuesday.
Up next for the Pride is a meeting against El Capitan (Merced) on Monday at PHS. On Wednesday, the Bulldogs host Lodi while the Pride will entertain Oakdale. All three games get underway at 3:30 p.m.
