The job of a leadoff batter is to get on base.
After joining the team two weeks ago, East Union leadoff batter Jackson Fay is in mid-season form, going 4 for 5 with three RBI, a home run, a triple, three runs and a stolen base Wednesday in a 9-2 Valley Oak League win at Sierra.
“This feels great,” Fay said. “Can’t say anything else but that.
“I am just trusting in my swing and trying to put barrel on the ball every time.”
Batting second for East Union (5-3 VOL, 12-5 overall), Peyton Heath went opposite field for a home run over the right-field fence to plate Fay for a 2-0 Lancers lead in the first inning.
“I just saw the ball well and drove it the other way,” Heath said.
Following Heath is Brayden Camara, who went 3 for 4 with three doubles and a run. Heath locked down the hot corner at third, making multiple highlight-reel plays.
“It always feels good beating a rival team,” Camara said. “Like Peyton (Heath) said, I was seeing the ball very well today, placing the balls all around the field. It was great.
“I just try to keep my head down to field the ground balls and just try to make plays.”
Fay, Heath and Camara went a combined 8 for 11 and were directly responsible for all of their team’s runs.
“That’s pretty good,” East Union coach Bauer said of that top third of his lineup. “We always talk about approach and staying within yourself, and those guys just executed. They are really good baseball players, they really are.
“It’s hard to win a series in the VOL. Like we have talked about, one game at a time. We will enjoy this win and come back in practice and get better tomorrow.”
The Timberwolves (1-7, 6-10) got their two runs in the first inning when Cole Martin led off the frame with an infield single, took third on a Noah Valdivia double and scored on a passed ball. Valdivia scored on a Travis Thomson groundout to make the score 5-2.
Sierra continues to battle defensive demons. After a four-error outing in an 11-1 five-inning loss to the Lancers on Monday, the Timberwolves committed five errors Wednesday, issuing four walks and hitting three batters.
“Our errors weren’t as costly as they have been,” Sierra coach Travis Thomson said. “We didn’t play clean, and they were able to put up four in the first.
“This was another game where we dug a hole and we needed to climb out, and we didn’t play clean enough to dig out. We got two run in the bottom of the third and they answered right back with two more in the top of the fourth. We couldn’t get momentum and we couldn’t do things right.”
Efren Diaz and Julian Ledesma split the pitching duties for East Union with Diaz picking up the win, going the first 4.1 innings, walking one with four hits and two runs. Ledesma struck out two, walked two and allowed no runs.
The two teams wrap up their series Friday at Agostini Field at 4 p.m.
