The Mustangs varsity baseball team is off to a white hot start to the season and it continued to show on Wednesday, April 2 when the team shut out Weston Ranch 11-0 in front of the Oakdale faithful. The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 but it was postponed to severe weather.
“It’s frustrating. We were ready to play and the rain hit with less than an hour before game time,” noted Oakdale senior Bryce Dyrda on the rain delay.
Dyrda was on the mound for the Mustangs and opened the Wednesday game with three strikeouts. In the bottom of the first, Oakdale’s Trenton Pierson seemed to be stuck in pickle in his attempt to steal second, but with his quickness and heads up base running ability, Pierson slid into second, beating out the tag. With one out and Pierson on second, Dyrda stepped into the batter’s box and crushed a 3-2 fastball from pitcher Manuel Rubio and sent it over the center field wall for a two-run homer to give Oakdale a 2-0 lead that the Mustangs would carry into the bottom of the third.
“I was looking for a decent pitch to swing at. He hung a 3-2 fastball and I carried it over the fence,” Dyrda said.
With one out in the bottom of the third, Pierson put down a bunt along the third base line and that sent Ben Solorio to second while Pierson reached first safely. Dyrda would once again step into the batter’s box and sent the ball deep into left field, sending Solorio home and extending the Mustangs lead to 3-0. Still with one out and bases loaded, Colt Parshall hit a line drive over the third baseman’s glove and Pierson and Dyrda would cross home plate giving Oakdale a commanding 5-0 lead.
“He (Rubio) tried getting a fastball past me. It sailed to the inside and I ripped it into the outfield,” Parshall commented on his two-RBI single.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Oakdale would tack on three more runs. Tanner Morgan would start the two out slugfest with an RBI double that sent Solorio home. Dyrda would continue his big day at the plate as he knocked in another run with an RBI single to bring in Morgan. Garret Bryhni capped off the inning with an RBI double to break the game wide open 8-0.
Rubio would be done for the day and Weston Ranch switched pitchers, handing the duties over to Parker Hardy in the bottom of the fifth. Hardy wouldn’t be on the mound for long as Oakdale jumped on him early. Dalton Stewart hit the ball just hard enough to bring Spencer Hager home. With one out in the inning, James Azevedo would end the game on a two RBI walk off single to officially put the game out of reach.
“He sent two bad pitches my way. Sitting at a 2-0 count, I swung on the third pitch and it went my way. I haven’t had very many at bats this season, so I had to make this one count,” said Azevedo, who is in his second season on the varsity team.
“It’s always a pleasure to get everybody involved in games like today.” Mustangs coach Nate Gregory shared.
The Mustangs played on Saturday as well, taking on Escalon in the Banner Island Classic, with funds raised benefiting the United Way. Escalon took an early lead but Oakdale’s offense proved overwhelming for the young Cougars as Oakdale took a 12-2 non-league victory off the field in Stockton.
