Lodi shocks St. Mary’s with strong pitching, hitting

Lodi High baseball coach Hobie Schultz and his players are riding high.

That is because at Zupo Field on Friday, Lodi shocked previously undefeated St. Mary’s 7-2 in a Tri-City Athletic League game. Lodi improves to 6-6 in the TCAL, 12-11 while the Rams go to 11-1 and 18-5-1.

“I just want to enjoy this one right now,” Schultz said. “We’re going to practice (today) and go from there.”

Logan Stout pitched a fivehitter in 6 1/3 innings work for the Flames.

“He was big for us today,” said Schultz of Stout.

Lodi broke a 0-0 game in the bottom of the fourth inning with five runs, and then two more added in the bottom of the sixth. St. Mary’s scored a run each in the sixth and seventh innings.

Part of the Flames’ offensive attack on the Rams was Evan Webb’s two-run double and Ian Watanabe’s three-run triple in the fourth inning. Cody Miza had a two RBIs for Lodi, which finished with six hits. St. Mary’s had five.

Lodi is currently alone in third place in the TCAL, which sends the top four teams into the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs that begin the week after next. St. Mary’s remains in first place, followed by Lincoln (8-4 in the TCAL, 14-9), Lodi, Tracy (5-7, 12-10), Tokay (3-9, 7-17) and West (1-11, 6-15).

On Monday, Lodi takes on rival Tokay in their best-of-three series, all at Zupo Field. Monday’s game, with Tokay being the home team, starts at 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday, Lodi is the home team and begins at 4 p.m. The rubber match will be next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Lodi only needs one win to secure one of the league’s playoff spots. Tokay must win all three games against the Flames, and get some help from St. Mary’s, Lincoln and Tracy, to sneak into the playoffs.

Tracy 5, Tokay 4

The Tigers and host Bulldogs had nine hits each in Friday’s game. Ryan Lew and Colby Baker had two hits each for Tokay. Diego Ramirez, plus Jaima Quesada and Logan Drummond, had a hit each.