RIPON – The Ripon Indians had absolutely no trouble blazing past the host Ripon Christian Knights on Tuesday afternoon.
The Indians erupted for a 10-run second inning en route to a 21-1 blowout.
Ripon (1-1) flexed its muscle with a run in the first, 10 in the second, two in the third and then put it out of reach with a five-run fourth.
Ripon Christian was able to scratch its only run across in the fourth.
“You can just see the game is way too fast for them right now,” Ripon Christian head coach John De Visser said. “There’s just too much stuff going on in their head right now; you have to treat it almost like a scrimmage and I hate to say that.
“We have to replace a lot of innings from last year; we just have to get guys experience.”
The Indians offense banged out 14 hits in the five-inning affair, collecting hits in each frame.
Caleb Rogers picked up where he close off his sophomore season, sitting down 10 of the 12 hitters he faced while striking out seven in three-plus innings of work in the start.
“Caleb has been good for us two years now,” Ripon head coach Mitchell Evans said. “I expect things from here as a junior and senior too. He is a terrific ball player for us.
“He does a good job of keeping the ball down and having that downward angle.”
Rogers also caused some havoc in the batter’s box, collecting two hits and reaching base four times in the win. He had an RBI, a pair of walks and came around to score four times for Ripon.
Joey Hvizda, Josh Clark, Claudia Santos and Dante Machado all had two hits in the game, while Michael Ysit hit a towering home run and drove in four.
The Knights (0-1) will have to battle until help comes from its playoff basketball team. Instead, Ripon Christian took the diamond with a cast of fresh faces. Seven freshmen contributed Tuesday.
The Knights will travel to Lathrop for the Spartans two-day, four-team tournament beginning Friday.
“It’s work hard and take on game at a time,” Evans said of his group’s outlook. “You have to beat the ones in front of you and look up at the end and see where you are.”
Manteca 5, Freedom 1
The Buffaloes continued a solid opening to their season, getting an impressive road win over Freedom High.
Manteca (2-0) got a strong showing from pitcher Dominic Pisano, who went five innings for the Buffaloes. Pisano struck out two and didn’t allow an earned run.
“He came out and pitched very well today,’ Manteca head coach Gene Ballardo said. “Definitely can see the improvement from last year to this year and we were very happy with his performance.
“The key is if he can build on that and roll it into his next start.”
Michael Garibay was 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI, while Jake Corn finished the game 2-for-3, with a run, a double and two RBI.
The Buffaloes will begin the Johansen Tournament today at 12:15 p.m. when against Beyer High. Manteca will complete its opening day doubleheader against tournament host Johansen at 3 p.m.
