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Patterson drubs six doubles to down Manteca
Patterson-Manteca baseball
Manteca’s Derrick Day tags out Patterson’s Mikah Robertson (13) at home. - photo by SEAN KAHLER

It was doubles day for visiting Patterson on Thursday, as the Tigers belted six two-baggers that accounted for four of their runs in a blustery 8-3 win over Manteca in non-league baseball action.

“We have been really working on our situational hitting,” Patterson coach Harley Parson said. “The way it blows out in this park, it goes right with our kids’ strength to right-center field. It helped us out that it was a little windy today.”

The Tigers (3-4) had no errors.

“We played well considering we haven’t been on our field for about a week and a half,” Parson said. “We are doing a lot of drills and stuff like that. To me, it shows that they are really focused and talking to each other, and that really helped.

“We’re going to play them next year because we like playing the best teams and we will be in league together in two years.”

Patterson put up six runs in the third inning with Nate Lozano having the biggest bat, going 2 for 4 with three RBI, two doubles and a run. Tony Lomeli (3 for 4, run), Nick Hernandez (2 for 4, three RBI, run), Payton Montecino (2 for 4, two runs) and Braden McCleery (run, stolen base) each added a double for Patterson.

Things started off well for the Buffaloes (7-3) with Rex Watson (2 for 4, double, run) doubling to lead off the bottom of the first and he was doubled in by Landon Chamberlain (2 for 3, RBI, double, run) and Chamberlain came in on a passed ball for an early 2-0 Manteca lead.

Manteca would not score again until the sixth when Alex Murrietta (2 for 3, double, run) doubled to lead off the frame and came around to score on two wild pitches for the final score of 8-3.

“We didn’t throw enough strikes, we didn’t make enough plays, we didn’t hit all that well and we didn’t execute like we normally do,” Buffaloes coach Mark Ruiz said. “We haven’t had that many doubles hit against us this year. Pitch location and the little things hurt us.”

The Tigers converted two inning-ending double plays.

“We had a couple of rally killers basically from ourselves,” Ruiz said. “We had some base-running mistakes with guys being overly aggressive. I can’t fault them too much for being aggressive, because that’s how we want to play. We will learn from it.

“We have a lot of youth this year with three freshmen and four sophomores and a couple of juniors. We are extremely young and we are learning every single day.”  

With Patterson expected to come into the Valley Oak league in 2024, these two teams will soon be league opponents.

“Harley (Parson) and I were just talking about realignment,” Ruiz said. “They will be coming into the VOL and obviously they are a solid team, so I think that will be a good addition, for sure.”

The Buffaloes host a former VOL opponent in Weston Ranch today at 4 p.m.