Jeremy Cross gave up a two-out single to Peyton Wallace in the first inning of Manteca’s Valley Oak League showdown with Oakdale on Wednesday.
He dominated the rest of the way, as the Buffaloes supported his one-hit gem with perfect defense and a fifth-inning rally for a much-needed 4-0 win.
Manteca (7-4 VOL, 14-5 overall) visits the Mustangs (8-3, 12-5) today for the rubber game. Oakdale rolled 13-2 in the opener on Monday.
“Changeup and fastball were really working for me,” Cross said. “I came out here and was confident, but what an incredible job by my defense. They had my back multiple times. I couldn’t have done that without them.”
The 6-foot-4 righty was so dialed in that he struck out six of seven batters from the third to fifth innings. He finished with seven strikeouts against one walk, throwing 90 pitches while facing just two batters over the minimum.
“Went through the lineup the first time around and recognized the hitters,” Cross said. “From then on, I was being smart about my pitches, and it seemed to work out for me.”
It was a pitcher’s duel between Cross and Oakdale’s Christian Amerine until the fifth inning.
Manteca No. 9 batter Carson Sablan reached with an infield single, Brody Carabello walked and Brennen Vega loaded the bases with a bunt single. Sablan raced home on a wild pitch for the first run, and the Buffaloes’ biggest bats did the rest.
Nate Slikker drove in the next two with a double to deep left-center field, and clean-up hitter Devon Richardson followed with an RBI two-bagger of his own after working the count full against reliever Chase Ravalin. Richardson finished 2 for 3, while adding to his Sac-Joaquin Section-leading RBI total of 29.
“We had decent approaches throughout the whole game,” Slikker said. “We were hitting balls hard and getting guys in scoring position, we just couldn’t get that one hit. I think it really just started with the bottom of our lineup. We just found ways to get on (base) and kept believing in each other.”
Defensively, Carabello had a busy day at second base with five assists, and the outfield trip of Brixton Menchaca-Ortiz, Sablan and Vega showed off their range on some well-struck pop flies. In fact, Vega ended the game with a spectacular running catch in deep right field.
“Jeremy did a great job mixing speeds and keeping the ball down, and you really have to do that against this team,” Manteca coach Mark Ruiz said. “Our defense backed him up. They put a lot of balls in play, but we played really good, sound defense and had no errors. Outfield did a really good job, and we had a ton of ground balls toward our second baseman and he made plays.”
