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Los Banos knocks Lathrop out of postseason contention
Los Banos-Lathrop baseball
Lathrop’s Jasper Tover slides safely into second as Los Banos’ Mike Souza waits for the ball. - photo by Wayne Thallander

Visiting Los Banos tallied five runs in the first two innings Monday and Lathrop never recovered in a 6-4 Western Athletic Conference baseball win for the Tigers, keeping Los Banos a game out of first place and knocking the Spartans out of the playoff hunt.

“I think senior night kind of messed up our guys a little bit,” Lathrop coach Charles Garcia said. “Our focus wasn’t all there to start, and then we found it again. But our bats stayed dead when we needed them to liven up and they just didn’t wake up when we needed them to. This whole season we just have not had timely hits.”

Leadoff batter Jasper Tover (2 for 4, two runs) scored twice for Lathrop (6-7 WAC, 7-10 overall), scoring in the first and third inning when he was knocked in by A.J. Duenas (2 for 4, two RBI). Adrian Zuniga (2 for 4, run) singled in the first inning for the Spartans and scored on a bloop single by Anthony Gallardo (2 for 3, RBI, double). The drew Lathrop within 3-2.

Trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Noah Asuncion pinch hit to lead off the frame for the Spartans. He singled and following a double by Gallardo the two were on second and third. With two outs, Jaime Sifuentes pinch hit and laced a single to score Asuncion and bring Lathrop within 6-4. 

“Asuncion has been out all season with a broken hand,” Garcia said. “He has only been back a week and he came through big — he got us going.”

Tover started in the mound and went five innings, striking out the side in the second and fourth innings and totaling 10 strikeouts. Gallardo caught the first five innings and moved to the mound for the final two, giving up one hit and striking out three with no runs.

“Gallardo is our go-to guy,” Garcia said. “He is our catcher and when we need him to come in and close it out he comes in and closes it out.

“He has a funny ball that has a lot of dance to it, and he came through again today. He pitched well.”

Kayson Welch (two RBI, double, run) and Jaylen Walton were each 2 for 4 for the Tigers.

“We’re battling for a spot and we knew these guys were battling for a spot,” Los Banos coach Patrick Fuentes said. “We’re trying to stay where we are, if not gain ground.

“We’re just trying to compete, and Lathrop came out and competed today. We just got a couple of more hits.”

The two teams will wrap WAC play on Wednesday in Los Banos at 4 p.m.