The hits and wins just keep coming for the Oakdale Mustangs varsity baseball team. This past week Oakdale improved to 6-0 in Valley Oak League play after defeating the Lathrop Spartans (3-8-1, 0-3) in a two-game series.
The first place Mustangs scored their first run in the second inning and added on single runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings to win 4-1 on the road Tuesday, April 4. Vito Rodin started the game and pitched six strong innings, giving up only three hits while striking out eight Spartan batters. At the plate Oakdale accumulated nine hits, including two doubles by Cullen Bearden, one which resulted in an RBI. Also having multi-hit efforts for the Mustangs were Michael Juarez, Nick Moore and Blake Whiting. Each of the three had an RBI in the game along with Jordon Williams, who had an RBI single.
Although Oakdale’s record in league play is flawless, the Mustangs had to overcome a five-error effort on Tuesday against the Spartans.
Two days later the Mustangs hosted Lathrop where Oakdale’s pitching and batting stunned the Spartans. Oakdale won the game 10-0 in five innings, and in the rout Blake Whiting pitched four shutout innings, striking out 10 batters and walking one. Ethan Parker closed the game out with a fifth inning effort that kept the Spartans off the bases, resulting in a combined no-hitter for the duo.
Oakdale jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and tagged on four more in the second to put things out of reach. Nick Moore had two hits and added four RBI, Cullen Bearden got the crowd excited on an RBI triple, and Jacob Gerber had two hits for two RBI in the win. Tyler Hall brought in a runner on a sacrifice fly to cap off the day for Oakdale. Bearden also displayed his speed on the bags, as he stole three bases in the win.
The Mustangs only committed one error in the game, a far cry from the five that haunted them just 48 hours before.
In league play this year Oakdale has outscored the opposition 46-5 in six games. Oakdale looks to keep the season going in the right direction when they take on Weston Ranch (9-5, 1-2) this week. Oakdale was scheduled to host Weston Ranch on Tuesday, April 11 following The Leader’s press time. The Mustangs then travel to Stockton to play the Cougars on Thursday, April 13 with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Thirty runs to no runs. That was the combined margin of victory in two games for the JV Mustangs as they shut out the Spartans this past week in VOL action. On Tuesday, April 4 the JV boys scored 11 first inning runs on the road to win 20-0 and followed that up with a 10-0 home shutout of the Spartans on Thursday. In the 20-0 road win Oakdale was issued 14 walks and knocked in 17 runs in the laugher. Leading the team with three RBI each that day were Max Moore, Alex Daoud and Hayden Knittle. Josh Garcia pitched three innings in the win for Oakdale. At home the boys piled up the score once again on the Spartans as they scored three runs in the first inning. Justin Jericoff started the game and earned the win.
FRESHMEN
Two very different games for the youngest of the baseball boys this past week. Oakdale fell to Sierra on the road 10-0 on Monday, April 3 but defeated the Buffaloes of Manteca 5-4 at home on Wednesday, April 5. The Mustangs’ late surge in their win came in the fifth inning as Oakdale took a 2-1 lead, scoring twice in the inning. Oakdale found themselves down 4-3 in the seventh but rallied again, scoring two runs off the bat of Jackson Ruvalcaba to win the thriller 5-4. Oakdale is now 2-2 in VOL play.
