Walk-off hit decides VOL thriller that features two Division I-bound players
Baseball is 90% mental, Oakdale High coach Joey Machado says. “But people only talk about the mental 10% of the time.”
Bas Stice knows all about that. The junior in his first varsity season fell into a slump, tallying just three hits in seven games since March 22.
He said his confidence took a hit over the past few weeks, but he continued to show up, put in the work and stay consistent.
That work paid off Monday in the bottom of the eighth inning of a one-run Valley Oak League game against Patterson. With one out and runners on first and second, Stice came through with the game-winning hit, sending a chopper up the middle of the infield, driving in Eric Velazquez from second base to secure a 2-1 walkoff win.
“I started the year pretty good, I would say, and then just going into a rough mental state,” Stice said of the past few weeks. “I was just trying to keep it simple at the end of the day.”
Does a hit like this help get a hitter back on the right path?
“Definitely,” Stice said with a smile.
Machado added: “He’s someone who wants to be really, really good, and we keep reminding him it takes time, it’s a process.”
After the first out of the eighth, Velazquez lined a single to center field. The Tigers elected to intentionally walk Landon Schutte, putting a pair of runners on base.
“As soon as they intentionally walked me I was like, ‘That’s not a good idea,’” Schutte said. “I know baseball too well and (Stice) was due. He puts in the work.”
Fans were treated to a pitchers duel between a pair of Division I-bound star juniors.
Both teams’ aces and Game 1 pitchers battled for more than five innings Monday. Oregon-bound Max Medina was on the bump for Patterson and Georgia commit Schutte got the start for Oakdale.
Though he will play in the outfield for the Ducks, Medina had his entire arsenal working on the mound Monday. He threw five shutout innings before giving up the game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth. His outing included eight strikeouts, five hits allowed, one walk surrendered and an earned run. At the plate, he went two-for-two with a pair of intentional walks and two stolen bases.
“It’s always good to compete against Landon, we’re both ultimate competitors and it was a good game, that’s all we can ask for,” Medina said. “Tough way to end it on a walk-off, but it was a great game.”
Schutte has some of the best velocity in the 2026 class and it was on full display. The 6-foot-4 right-hander, who threw a 98 mph fastball earlier this season at a tournament in Clovis, gave up five hits, one run and a walk in five innings. He struck out a game-high nine batters. Schutte also had a hit, an RBI, a pair of walks and struck out once.
“I’ve grown up with Max, we’ve played either with or against each other our whole lives,” Schutte said. “We both made decisions to go to college this past fall … so it was pretty cool (competing) today.”
It’s not often in the Stanislaus District that a regular Monday league game features a battle of two of the most prized recruits on the West Coast, making the atmosphere even more competitive.
Velazquez collected a team-high two hits and Schutte, Fresno State commit Jordan Haver, Griffin Costa, Ayden Ardis and Stice each had one hit.
Patterson senior Jimmy Chagoya drove in the game’s first run, scoring Andrew Garcia with one of his game-high two doubles. Chagoya and Medina had a pair of hits, Caden Lozano, CJ Medina, Mitchell Carter and Guy Allard each added a hit.
Oakdale answered when Schutte drove in Velazquez, who doubled earlier in the inning. Neither team scored again before playing seven full innings, setting up the eighth-inning walk-off.
“Last week, we played against a really tough Manteca team and it didn’t end up coming out in our favor but we needed this today,” Schutte said. “Energy was really good the last few innings and then Bas Stice comes up and gets the job done, so that was awesome.”
The Tigers moved into the VOL from the Central California Conference. The Mustangs have been members of the league for decades. Despite different journeys in the league, coaches from both sides agreed this is the best the league has been.
“It’s hard to gauge the standings because everyone’s good,” Machado said. “The league was good before, then you add Patterson and Mountain House.”
Oakdale entered the game third in the league, but with its win and Central Catholic’s 9-7 loss to Manteca on Monday, the Mustangs took over second place in the standings behind the Buffaloes, which took two of three over Oakdale last week.
Patterson sits just outside fourth place after the loss. It has experienced the good and bad of baseball just in the first three weeks of league play. They were riding high after taking the first game against Manteca but lost games on March 7-8. They responded by beating Mountain House once and winning two of three games against East Union, taking the season series.
Since then, they have lost five straight league games, despite collecting more than 40 hits in that span.
Patterson hopes to turn the tides and even the series Wednesday at home before returning to Oakdale on Friday for the series finale.
This story was originally published April 8, 2025 at 9:51 AM.
