Baseball semifinals: Oakdale falls, Central Catholic and Hughson win Game 1 matchups
The Oakdale baseball team has two chances to win two games to extend its season.
Head coach Joey Machado said the No. 2 Mustangs (21-10) will remember Monday’s game, a 13-1 loss to No. 3 Roseville (19-11) in Game 1 of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinals series, but they won’t dwell on it. There’s no time. They play Wednesday with their season on the line.
“You can’t act like today didn’t happen, but you also can’t let today define you for Wednesday,” Machado said. “It’s just another chance to respond again.”
Machado adjusted his normal pitching rotation, going with Ayden Ardis instead of the usual Monday starter, Georgia commit Landon Schutte, because Schutte pitched last Wednesday in the first round against Los Banos. Three pitchers saw time for the Mustangs in Monday’s series opener: Niki Jones relieved Ardis, and Christian Amerine got the final out for Oakdale.
The Tigers jumped on Oakdale early, scoring twice in the first inning and four runs in the second. Their biggest punch came in the fifth inning, when they scored seven runs, powered by a three-run home run by Ashton Chang.
“With a team like (Roseville), once they get momentum, it was hard to just find that break our way,” Machado said. “Give credit to them, though, they did a good job.”
Fresno State-bound senior Jordan Haver provided two of the few Oakdale highlights of the day. He took the very first pitch he saw deep down the left-field line, a towering shot that sailed over the fence but was just a few feet left of the left-field foul pole. He struck out two pitches later. In the bottom of the fifth inning, chasing 13 runs, Griffin Costa singled and reached second base after Bas Stice reached base on an error in the next at bat. Two batters later, Haver doubled, scoring Costa to bring the Mustangs’ first run of the series in from second.
Despite the Game 1 loss, Machado is confident his team has what it takes to take Wednesday’s Game 2 in Roseville and force a Game 3 Thursday back in Oakdale. In Schutte and Haver, they have their two most experienced pitchers still available to throw, and they’ve already won two win-or-go-home games during this playoff run.
“We’ve done it before,” Machado said. “We’ve had to respond before and the kids have done a good job with it. The first two games of the playoffs are that do-or-die mentality, and we’re back in that seat again.”
Baseball Semifinals Game 1
Division III
No. 5 Central Catholic 3, No. 1 Oakmont 1 (8): In their fourth postseason matchup in the past three seasons, the Raiders needed extra innings to take Game 1 against the top seed in the Division III bracket. Caine Walker got the start on the road and AJ Miligi came on in relief, did not allow a run and tallied three strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Chase Perino singled, stole second and scored on a Jacob Kiesel single to bring the first run across in the top of the third. Oakmont answered in the bottom of the fourth and the game stayed even until extras. In the top of the eighth, Kiesel drove in Kayden McHenry with one of his three singles on the day and then scored on a Hudson Walker single to add an insurance run. After allowing a leadoff single in the bottom of the final inning, Miligi shut the door with three straight outs. The Raiders host Game 2 on Wednesday and if necessary will travel to Oakmont for Game 3 on Thursday.
Division V
No. 2 Hughson 8, No. 3 Wheatland 2: Carlos Guizar hit his second home run of the postseason, a two-run shot to break a 2-2 tie, to give Hughson momentum to take Game 1 and move within one win of a trip to the section title game. Guizar finished with three hits and four RBI in the dominant win. Bryce McDaniel and Lawson Aviles each doubled, and Beau Blake came away with two hits. McDaniel gave up a leadoff home run on the mound but bounced back by not allowing a run in five of the final six innings. He gave up only five hits and two runs while striking out seven batters without surrendering a walk. Hughson looks to punch its ticket to the D-V title game on the road for Game 2 on Wednesday.
