Host Ceres falls to Brookside Christian in final of Art McRae baseball tournament

Excuse the Ceres Bulldogs if they seemed a little pooped during Thursday’s championship game of the Art McRae Lions Club Tournament.

For the past two days, the Bulldogs have started their day before 7 a.m., getting to high school to prepare the diamond and work the gate for the fifth annual event, and then staying until about 7 p.m. with additional field prep.

“It was tough, really tough,” said pitcher Merrik Price, who took the loss for the Bulldogs (15-5) in an 8-4 defeat to Brookside Christian (Stockton). “But it’s worth it for all the money we make from this tournament.”

Yes, the tournament serves as a primary fundraiser for the baseball program, and it would’ve been nice for the Bulldogs to win the tournament they co-host with crosstown rival Central Valley.

But as far as coach John Bussard is concerned, Ceres accomplished more than enough.

“We had goals going into this and we met our goals,” said Bussard, who has guided the Bulldogs (15-5) to back-to-back 20 wins seasons, with a third in sight. “We’re here looking to evaluate guys. We learned that we’re a lot deeper team than we expected.”

The Bulldogs trailed 5-2 after five but scored a pair in the sixth to get within a run.

Brad Bussard led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, then took third when his brother, Brent Bussard reached on an error. Brett Conway plated Brad Bussard and Brent Bussard scored on Drew Stahl’s sacrifice fly. Conway eventually reached third but his pinch-runner, representing the tying run, got caught in rundown trying to score on a passed ball.

The Pride, designated the home team, scored three in the bottom of the frame to put it out of reach.

Ceres, the leader of the Western Athletic Conference, will take on Modesto Metro Conference frontrunner Beyer on Monday at the Patriots’ Paul Cornwell Field. The Bulldogs will resume WAC play on April 22 when they host Livingston.

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Host Ceres falls to Brookside Christian in final of Art McRae baseball tournament."