North holds off late South rally to win Merced County All-Star Baseball Game
Buhach Colony High School junior Spencer Lanz struck out the final batter to stop a three-run rally in the ninth and preserve a 5-4 victory for the North in the 12th annual Merced County All-Star Baseball Game on Saturday night at Merced College.
The South had rallied for three runs to cut the lead to one run and had two runners in scoring position when Lanz recorded the final out.
The North now leads the all-time series 9-3.
Buhach Colony’s Cooper Lanz and Mariposa’s Jacob Ogilby were named MVPs of the game. Cooper Lanz had two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Ogilby hit a home run for the South’s first run.
The North built a 5-0 lead through the first seven innings.
Cooper Lanz doubled in the first inning and came around to score on a double by Buhach Colony teammate Logan Baptista to give the North a 1-0 lead.
Two Thunder players teamed up to extend the North lead to 2-0 in the second inning as Spencer Lanz drove in Kadyn Fillebrown with a fielder’s choice ground ball.
Cooper Lanz drove in a run in the third inning with a single to extend the North lead to 3-0.
Livingston’s Andy Aguilar hit a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and Buhach Colony’s Landon Laplante drove in a run with a single in the seventh inning to give the North a 5-0 lead.
Ogilby broke up the shutout in the seventh inning with a solo home run to cut the North lead to 5-1.
Mariposa teammate Landon Robinson hit a triple to drive in Dos Palos’s Isac Mandujano in the ninth inning to cut the lead to 5-2. Merced’s Riley Dickey then drove in Robinson with a sacrifice fly to pull the South within 5-3.
El Capitan’s Carson Vier’s followed with an RBI-double to cut the lead to 5-4.
That’s when Spencer Lanz came up with the big strike out to end the game.
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 8:39 AM.
