El Capitan baseball closing in on CCC championship. What Gauchos need to do
The El Capitan High baseball team heads into the final week of the season with a two-game lead in the Central California Conference standings, but its work isn’t done.
The Gauchos are 11-1 in the CCC and lead second-place Atwater (9-3) by two games. But they’ll likely need to win two of their final three games to win an outright CCC championship.
El Capitan, 18-7 overall and having won seven straight games, faces third-place Los Banos (7-5) this week in a three-game series to wrap up CCC play. Games are being played at Los Banos on Monday and Friday; El Capitan hosts Wednesday’s game.
Atwater will conclude the CCC season with three games this week against Golden Valley (1-11).
Senior Cooper Gaoiran leads El Capitan in batting average (.449), steals (26) and runs (36). Junior Angel Rivera is batting .418 with 22 RBIs. Junior Noah Ruiz is batting .373 with a team-high 24 RBIs.
The Sac-Joaquin Section baseball playoffs begin May 5 with play-in games. The brackets will be announced Saturday. The section champion and runner-up advance to the NorCal Regional tournament.
Here’s a look at the CCC baseball standings heading into the final week of the season:
- El Capitan 11-1
- Atwater 9-3
- Los Banos 7-5
- Merced 4-8
- Buhach Colony 4-8
- Golden Valley 1-11
Boys volleyball
The Golden Valley boys volleyball team claimed the CCC championship with a three-set victory over El Capitan last week. Sophomore Jake Green had a team-high 15 kills as the Cougars defeated the Gauchos 25-22, 25-19, 26-24.
Golden Valley finished 9-1 in the CCC, 26-14 overall. It was the Cougars’ fifth CCC title.
Golden Valley is seeded 14th in the section Division II playoffs and will host 19th-seeded Tracy on Tuesday. El Capitan is seeded 15th and will host No. 18 Armijo. Merced is ranked 22nd in Division II and faces 11th-seeded Kennedy on Tuesday.
Livingston is the top seed in Division IV. The Wolves open the playoffs Tuesday against No. 16 Weston Ranch. Livingston went 14-0 to claim the Western Athletic Conference title.
