TOKAY BASEBALL WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT
Big hits give Tokay a win over last-place Wolf Pack to narrow gap to third place
Better late than never. The Tokay High baseball team was hitless and scoreless in the first two innings of Tuesday night’s Tri-City Athletic League home game against West at Zupo Field. But the Tigers’ bats came alive for an 11-6 win over the Wolf Pack. Tokay has won its fourth straight league game, and six of its last eight after starting league play with sweeps at the hands of Tracy and St. Mary’s.
In recent games, Tokay (4-6 in the TCAL, 10-11 overall) has scored some or all of its runs in the first two innings. But the Tigers sent 12 batters to home plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, which led to seven hits that included leadoff hitter Cory Glasgow and Jaime Quesada delivering back-to-back doubles, along with one from Hugo Velasquez.
Joseph Heryford (3-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice), along with teammate Dylan Mahurin (2-for-4), had singles and Victor Munoz squeezed out a bunt single that went down the third base line. All of those hits led to an 8-1 lead over the Wolf Pack.
“I called four bunts, and we got three hits out of them,” said Tokay coach Pat Macfarlane. “We were swinging the bats a lot better.”
West (0-10 in the TCAL, 4-16), which led 2-1 before Tokay scored its half-dozen plus one
run in the fourth, cut the Tigers’ lead to 8-4 in the top of the fifth. Damian Vallejos and Nico Malbrough singled, and scored on Mikey O’Leary’s triple to center field.
But the Tigers continued their hitting stride in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs. Heryford and Ryan Lew had back-to-back doubles, plus a single by Luis Ramirez led the way to an 11-4 score.
West added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning. But the Tigers’ defense that included two fly balls caught by Glasgow in center field capped off the Wolf Pack’s scoring chances.
Tokay took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of third when Quesada walked, stole second base and moved to second on Heryford’s bunt single. Quesada scored on Ryan Lew’s sacrifice fly to center field. West took its only lead of the game at 2-1 in the top of the fourth when James Jones and Mike Manley had back-to-back singles, and then scored on a sacrifice fly and single.
On the mound, Max Blevins went five innings for the Tigers. He allowed only six hits and struck out four. Nick Frisk and Jack Gobel tossed the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.
With the win, Tokay narrowed the gap to third-place Lodi (6-4 TCAL, 11-9), which lost 11-0 to St. Mary’s.
Tokay and West meet again on the Wolf Pack’s field in Tracy on Thursday for their second meeting. The Tigers will close out the regular season against cross-town and league rival Lodi next week.