Atwater offense explodes as Falcons rout El Capitan in CCC baseball opener.
The Central California Conference baseball race should be fun.
Teams like Atwater and El Capitan will try to keep a talented Buhach Colony team from repeating as champions.
The Falcons and Gauchos squared off in the CCC opener for both teams and it was Atwater breaking open the game with a 10-run fourth inning to defeat El Capitan 14-3 on Tuesday at El Capitan High.
“I definitely think these guys (El Capitan) and Buhach Colony will be good competition,” said Atwater senior Jacob Weiss. “They’re good every single year. We’re looking forward to this season.”
Weiss showed he’s one of the top players in the league.
The University of the Pacific-bound senior went 4 for 4 at the plate with two runs and four RBIs to lead Atwater’s 15-hit assault.
The Falcons collected hits up and down their lineup.
Senior Isaiah Linan finished with three hits and three runs scored. Colby Flatt had two hits, including a double and three RBIs and Gunnar Kale collected three hits.
Senior Nathaniel Silva scored three runs from the leadoff spot and also pitched a complete game that was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“Our hitting was unselfish today,” Weiss said. “You could see it with the line drives through the infield. We had guys beating out ground balls for hits. Our two-strike approach was awesome. We didn’t have a lot of strikeouts.”
The Falcons return a lot of key components from last year’s team that finished 25-6 and went 10-2 in the CCC.
“Really for us it’s going to come down to our pitching,” said Atwater coach Jarrod Pimentel. “If we pitch well — we have a pretty good defense and we have some good guys at the plate — we can win a couple games.”
Buhach Colony comes in as a favorite with a pitching staff that includes Antonio Cortez, Jake Sapien and Kadon Floro. The Thunder’s only two losses have come against Division I opponents Turlock and Gregori.
“(El Capitan) is good, Golden Valley is playing well, Buhach Colony is playing well,” Pimentel said. “I haven’t seen Merced, Central Valley or Patterson. It’s still too early to tell.”
Atwater (4-2 overall, 1-0 CCC) will host El Capitan (3-2, 0-1) on Friday night at 7 at Memorial Ballpark.
Buhach Colony 12, Patterson 0 in Atwater — The Thunder scored 11 runs in the second inning and Cortez pitched a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts in five innings.
Julien Natividad drove in four runs for the Thunder and Logan Baptista added two hits.
Buhach Colony improves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the CCC.
Central Valley 7, Golden Valley 6 (8 innings) in Merced — The Hawks scored a run in the eighth inning to overcome eight errors to open CCC play with a win over the Cougars (2-3, 0-1).
Brandon Ramirez had two hits and two RBIs for Central Valley.
