Merced Volunteers open summer with four baseball wins in Woodland

The Merced Volunteers opened their summer season by going 4-0 at the Woodland Tournament over Memorial Day weekend.

The Volunteers return eight players from last year’s team, which lost in the American Legion State Championship game to the Chico Nuts.

The Vols opened the tournament Saturday with a 4-2 win over West Sacramento. Sergio Renteria pitched the first four innings to pick up the win, and Austin Hickman threw the final three to earn the save. Clayton Hall drove in two runs.

The Volunteers followed with an 11-8 win over Yuba City. Josh Penrod pitched four innings and Efrain Del Rio close out the win. Lawrence Anderson doubled and drove in three runs. Hall knocked in two runs, and Christian Witt and Evan Henneman each had three hits.

On Sunday, Brent Brewer pitched six innings and surrendered three earned runs in an 8-3 win over Napa. Penrod went 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Anderson had three hits, and Witt and Hanneman each had two hits.

The Volunteers finished the tournament with an 11-3 win over Oroville with Cole Huie pitching four innings and Witt tossing the final three. Anderson, Hanneman and Seth Reyes all had two hits with Hanneman driving in two runs. Kobe Nguyen also doubled.

“I was pleased with our defense,” Merced coach Rollo Adams said. “Our pitching was good. We didn’t walk a lot of hitters. We had timely hitting throughout the four games we played. I feel as a group, the kids enjoyed playing together.”

The Volunteers will return to action Monday at Merced College against Bear Creek of Stockton at 6 p.m.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Merced Volunteers open summer with four baseball wins in Woodland."