East beats West in 26th annual Modesto Sunrise Rotary Baseball Classic

All-star games are strictly for fun, right? And what could be more fun than watching Pitman High School’s Zach Wichman hold court in the dugout?

Wichman, the Central California Conference MVP, is a living, breathing hotfoot, the incarnate of the old baseball gag.

He pitched the first two innings of the 26th annual Modesto Sunrise Rotary Baseball Classic, won 7-2 by the East team Saturday at Cal State Stanislaus, then spent the rest of the night keeping his teammates loose.

Not that all-stars need help staying loose, but for Wichman, there’s no such thing as loose enough.

“He’s crazy,” said Pitman teammate Matt Carrigg, who was named the West team’s Most Outstanding Player after going 2 for 2 with an RBI and two stolen bases. “He’s always talking.”

Always talking, always gesturing, always cajoling.

Does he ever get tired?

“No,” said Pitman’s John Acha, picked to coach the West after guiding Wichman, Carrigg and the rest of the Pride to within one game of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South final. “He’s that goofy lefty you hear about; he’s definitely a live presence in the dugout.

“He’s an awesome guy. I’m going to miss him.”

If Acha will miss his left-handed ace, think how East coach John Bussard must feel about two of his players … twins Brent and Brad Bussard, his sons.

The Bussards, who guided Ceres to a second consecutive Western Athletic Conference championship, made their second-to-last appearance together in the same dugout. Their finale will come this week at the Merced-Stanislaus All-Star Game in Merced.

“It’ll be tough,” said John Bussard, who has guided the Bulldogs to the playoffs in each of his four seasons at the helm. “It’s the start of a new chapter in their lives, but you gotta let ’em go at some point. And now’s that time.”

The Bussard brothers will attend NCAA Division II Holy Names University in Oakland.

“It’ll be tough looking down the dugout and not seeing him there,” Brent Bussard said of his father/coach. “But we’ve all seen it coming for a while.”

“It’ll be tough,” Brad Bussard added. “But we’ll get through it.”

On Saturday, though, it was all about baseball.

The East struck first with two runs in the first off Wichman.

With one out, Brad Bussard reached on an error and scored on a triple by Beyer’s Ryan Frakes. Beyer’s Jack Large, who collected two hits and two RBIs and was named the East’s Most Outstanding Player, plated Frakes with a single.

East starter Jeff Gray, the MMC’s Pitcher of the Year, struck out the first batter he faced in the second inning, then proceeded to load the bases with a single to Modesto’s Dylon Jackson, a walk to Orestimba’s Dylan Dudley and another single to Davis’ Raul Sanchez. Gray, of Gregori, battled back to strike out the next two hitters and preserve the lead.

The West tied the score in the third when Patterson’s Antonio Bustos singled and reached second on an errant pickoff attempt. Carrigg’s single to center scored Bustos, and Carrigg scooted to second on the throw home. Carrigg stole third and scored the tying run on a double by Pitman’s Coleton Horner.

The East went ahead to stay with a four-run fifth.

Waterford’s Ryan Cherry tripled and scored on a single by Central Catholic’s Bradley Nightengale to make it 3-2. With Nightengale set to leave the game in the bottom of the frame, he made himself the winning pitcher with the RBI. Nightengale later scored on Large’s second RBI single.

Beyer’s Micah Hall, a first-team all-MMC selection who led the Sac-Joaquin Section in wins (12), pitched two perfect innings to close the game.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Wichman, who will play baseball next season at Merced College. “This is a good way to end my senior year and my high school baseball career.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "East beats West in 26th annual Modesto Sunrise Rotary Baseball Classic."