Reinvigorated Merced baseball beats Buhach Colony, again

When you start the season winning one of your first 13 games, you’ll try anything to turn it around.

Merced baseball coach Justin Parle did just that – testing different lineups, different pitchers, anything he could think of for a spark.

“We did everything we could,” said senior Jeremy Mendoza. “We blared music at practices. We tried strict, structured practices. We had free-swinging practices. The balls just didn’t fall our way.”

The Bears (5-13, 2-4 Central California Conference) might be turning the corner just in time, as they beat Buhach Colony for the second time this week, winning 10-1 on Thursday afternoon at Buhach Colony.

The win pulls Merced, which has won four of its last five games, even with Atwater for fourth place in the conference, one game behind the Thunder (11-7, 3-3).

The Bears will finish their three-game series with BC at 7 p.m. Friday at Merced High School with Thunder ace Andrew Mitchel and Merced’s top pitcher Mitchell Miller expected to start.

“I tell the guys, I enjoy each win for a few minutes,” Parle said. “Buhach is a good club and they’re going to have a horse on the mound. We’ve got a guy who will throw strikes.”

The Bears took advantage of Buhach Colony’s inability to throw strikes on Thursday as Lawrence Anderson and Nick Camper drew back-to-back walks to start the game against Buhach Colony’s Sergio Renteria.

Anderson and Camper eventually scored on a two-run single by Mendoza. Evan Hanneman drove in another run with a groundout to give the Bears a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Balls that were hit right at people early on in the season are now falling as Merced cranked out 10 hits with Anderson, Armando Flores, Tanner Pellissier and Jacob Alarcon each picked up two hits. Merced put the game away with a six-run fifth inning that extended the lead to 10-1.

Merced pitcher Kyle Muniz went the distance for the win, giving up just one unearned run on six hits.

“It was tough keeping that energy level high knowing we were (1-12), but we knew we were capable of getting wins,” Anderson said.

Mendoza said the dugout is reinvigorated.

“We definitely feel we’ve got the ball rolling now,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got our confidence back. We have a little swagger again. We’re locked and loaded now.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Reinvigorated Merced baseball beats Buhach Colony, again."