The Lancers 

The East Union High baseball squad settled for a tough extra-inning Valley Oak League split to Central Catholic at Agostini Field.

The Lancers (1-3 VOL, 9-6) put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra inning. They lost it in the ninth, 12-5.

“I was happy the way we battled back. We just didn’t finish,” East Union coach Gene Ballardo said.

The rubber match was a makeup from an earlier rain-out game.

Central Catholic (2-4 VOL, 6-8) threatened early on, getting the first two runners aboard in the second inning. But East Union was helped out when the next batter flew out to Andrew Olivares in right field. The senior outfielder threw a strike to Christian Nuon at first to complete the double play.

Jaydin Alvarez, the Lancers’ starting pitcher, had a strikeout to get out of the inning.

He wasn’t as fortunate in the third.

Gunnar Bertsch led off with a single and subsequently scored on Nick Bettencourt’s RBI single to right.

Tyler Van Dyk plated Bettencourt with a sacrifice fly, making it 2-0.

East Union jumped in the fourth, rallying for three runs in the frame.

Daniel Ruiz led off with a base hit up the middle. Nuon followed with an infield single. Both advanced on a wild pitch.

Cameron Ceja drove in  Ruiz with a blooped single and Oliveras came through with a two-run hit.

The Raiders tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth inning.

Van Dyk’s single plated Dell Babbitt, who had a one-out hit, advancing on a wild pitch.

Dalton Durossette, Central Catholic’s starting hurler, helped his cause with a lead off single. He advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an errant throw after swiping third.

The Lancers tied the game in sixth, sending the game into extra frames.

Fernando Segura led off with a double along the left field line, advancing to third on Andrew Mount’s bunt single, and scoring on a wild pitch.

The Raiders all but broke the game open in the ninth, scoring eight runs on five hits and three walks. Durossette and Bertsch both two-run singles.

East Union got one run back in bottom of the ninth, loading the bases. Segura along with Mount and Evan Heath strung up hits to load the bases.

Segura scored on an error.

The Lancers can now look forward to a bye.

“There’s a few things we’ll be working  on,” said Ballardo on his team’s plan for the break.