Oakdale played a home and home series against Lathrop this past week, and the Mustangs corralled a pair of victories over the Spartans.
The Mustangs went into Lathrop on Wednesday, April 1 and earned an 8-2 win. Thursday night at home, the Mustangs exploded for eight of their 14 runs in the second inning to shut out the visitors 14-0.
Off to a quick start for their home game, the Mustangs scored three runs in the first inning as junior Logan Hall hit a double to score Ben Solorio from first. Two batters later, Bryce Kirk hit a double to score Hall from second to give Oakdale a 2-0 lead with one out. With two outs Adam Olsen got his invite to the hitting party and collected an RBI with a double of his own to score Kirk.
Oakdale’s bats continued to punish the Lathrop pitchers in the second inning. With bases loaded, Kirk shot the ball to the outfield and cleared the bases with a three-run triple to give the Mustangs a 6-0 lead. Spenser Hager got in the act with an RBI double to score Kirk from third to expand the lead to 7-0. Facing one out, Wade Branch kept the scoring clinic going on an RBI single to score Hager from second making it 8-0. After errors by Lathrop and a 10-0 lead with two outs, Sean Gingrich capped off the inning with an RBI double to give Oakdale an 11-0 lead.
“Guys did a great job putting the ball into play. They did a great sitting on pitches and making adjustments,” said head coach Nate Gregory about the team’s eight run inning.
With a commanding 11-0 lead, Oakdale’s starting pitcher Crew Freeman was relaxed on the hill and recorded three strikeouts, no hits and issued one walk in three innings of work.
“I was just focused on my pitches. I wanted to be accurate and took it one pitch at a time. The guys backed me up offensively and put the ball in play. I think we all played great today,” shared Freeman.
The Mustangs put up three more runs throughout the next two innings to cap off the victory. Oakdale is now 5-1 in league play and are currently sitting in second place in the Valley Oak League standings. Oakdale hosted the annual Mark Dickens Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, after the Leader’s press time. Oakdale will return to league play in a home and home stand against Weston Ranch, when the Cougars come to town on Wednesday, April 15. The Mustangs will travel to Stockton to face the Cougars on Friday, April 17.