IN SPORTS: LODI BASEBALL SWEEPS WEST
Lodi tightens grip on third place in the TCAL and playoff spot that comes with it
Lodi Flames baseball completed a three-game sweep of the West High Wolfpack on Friday to keep pace in the league race with a final score of 7-4.
After the sweep, the flames raised their record to 6-3, which stands two games behind Tracy and St. Mary’s whom both sit atop the Tri-City Athletic League with 7-1 records.
Lodi took advantage of a lackluster West team that remains winless in league play with a 0-9 record and a notmuch-better 4-14 record overall.
Despite the differences in wins, it was the Wolfpack that took an early lead with a triple by Junior Dillon Duarte; followed by an RBI groundout by Senior Aaron Wagner.
However, West’s long day of defensive struggles began in the following half-inning when two Lodi runs scored off of an infield error.
West starter Jake Anderson was able to escape troubles in the first inning with only the two runs scoring, but eventually more trouble found him.
“We hit the ball pretty well today, we had a lot of hard hits that went right at guys and we had ones that dropped,” said Lodi’s Head Coach Hobie Schultz.
The Flames put the ball in the air and the windy conditions had West’s outfielders chasing balls all over. Anderson finished six innings allowing 7 runs with only three earned; his team committed five errors.
Senior infielder Yabumoto and Senior Alejandro Avilla made some of the loudest thumps in the Lodi lineup, but Avilla argualy hit the ball harder with a double that went over a racing center fielder’s head.
Another standout was Senior Alex Estrada who went 2-2 at the plate including a triple, driving in two runs.
Defensively, Lodi played a much sounder game than their counterparts committing just one error.
Senior starter Ben Prentiss-Schenk pitched five innings giving up only one run on one hit and striking out seven.
Pitching in relief of Prentiss-Schenk in the sixth, Senior Trevor Shuman faced the toughest inning as he walked two batters in the inning and surrendered two singles, giving West three runs.
Then in the final inning, Schultz gave the ball to senior Jacob Jordan to close it out.
“One game at a time, this is one that we definitely needed to take; it puts us in a good situation next week against St. Mary’s,” said Schultz.
Lodi starts a three game series against St. Mary’s beginning on Tuesday.