El Capitan baseball closes out CCC championship, awaits postseason seeding
The El Capitan High baseball team claimed the outright Central California Conference championship on Wednesday with a 2-0 win over Los Banos. It’s the Gauchos’ fifth straight CCC title.
The Gauchos improved to 13-1 in the CCC and lead second-place Atwater (11-3) with one game remaining on the league schedule.
El Capitan went into the week needing two wins over Los Banos to claim the outright championship. The Gauchos made a statement with their 11-0 victory Monday, then closed out the title with a close victory Wednesday.
Seniors Benny Centeno and Matt McQuillen each drove in a run for El Capitan. Centeno started on the mound for the Gauchos, allowing no runs on eight hits and striking out six Los Banos batters. Sophomore Brennan Casey earned the save.
“This means everything,” Centeno told Shawn Jansen of the Merced Unified High School District. “All four years I’ve been here at El Cap, we’ve not lost the CCC title. It’s just like our motto. Every year we come back and just keep going. Next up is the playoffs.”
The Gauchos (20-7 overall) can now look ahead to the postseason. They can rest some players in the regular season finale against Los Banos (7-7) on Friday.
The Sac-Joaquin Section baseball playoffs begin Tuesday with play-in games. The brackets will be announced Saturday.
The section champion and runner-up advance to the NorCal Regional tournament.
Here are the current CCC baseball standings, with one game left:
- El Capitan 13-1
- Atwater 11-3
- Los Banos 7-7
- Buhach Colony 6-8
- Merced 4-10
- Golden Valley 1-13
This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 10:21 AM.
