Austin Plunk nearly led Lathrop High to an upset win at Oakdale, which would have been the Spartans’ first against the Valley Oak League champion Mustangs.

Plunk slugged a two-out, two-run single in the third inning and pitched five scoreless innings before Oakdale battled back to salvage a 4-3 victory Tuesday.

Down 2-0 in the sixth inning, Oakdale (11-2 VOL, 18-8 overall) capitalized on an infield error and two walks to take the lead. Tanner Morgan reached on the error to lead off the inning. Eriksen Dickens singled, and Eddie Machado walked to load the bases with no out. Nik Garza drew a walk for Oakdale’s first run, Bryce Dyrda grounded out to drive in the second and Colt Parshall belted the go-ahead, two-run single.

Lathrop (4-9, 9-14) went down swinging in the top of the seventh.

Carlos Estrada singled to lead off and stole second. Richard Chavez later delivered a two-out RBI hit and turned the lineup over. Mikey Pereznegron grounded out to end the game.

“Proud of how the boys played and extremely proud of how they didn’t give up in the end,” Lathrop coach Randy Baltazar said. “Now we battle them during our senior night (today) and hopefully end (the season) with a good note.”



Sonora 16, W. Ranch 9

Weston Ranch (0-14 VOL, 2-22 overall) left 11 runners stranded in its season finale at home.

Sonora (4-10, 12-13) recorded seven runs in the second inning to take an 8-1 lead. Weston Ranch plated five of its own in the bottom half. Sonora added four more in the fourth to stretch its lead to 11-6 and didn’t look back.

James Simerley and Jared Ferrari (2 for 5, two singles) both pitched solid for the Cougars. Marcus Vega Tatum went 4 for 4 with a walk, two triple and two singles and four RBIs. Carlos Pastran finished 2 for 4 with a double and a single.



Kimball 9, East Union 3

East Union closed out its VOL schedule with a loss against Kimball Tracy despite belting seven hits.

Andrew Ruiz went 2 for 4 with two RBIs for the Lancers (8-6 VOL, 14-11 overall). Kimball, which improved to 9-5 league, 18-7 overall, scored three in the first and four more in the fourth to pull away. Justin Nieto gave up seven runs (five earned), tossed five strikeouts and three walks. Alec Barba of Kimball had a three-RBI double to start the game that helped set the tone.



Bulletin reporter John-Joel Griffiths contributed to this report.