Sierra’s boys tennis team began its defense of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship on Thursday and took care of No. 8 seed Beyer, 8-1.

The top-seeded Timberwolves (14-3) will next host No. 5 River Valley (16-5) in the semifinals on Tuesday, May 6. The Falcons from Yuba City downed No. 4 Oakdale, 6-3.

Only two matches went to third sets in Sierra’s opener. Ryan Alves won the No. 6 singles match for the Timberwolves 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 over Blake Allen. Beyer (10-3) got its lone win at No. 4 singles, as Steven Ibanez pulled away from Santiago Franco, 5-7, 6-3, 10-6.

Brady Alves downed Mason Joergenson at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-1. No. 2 Ashton Hillard (7-6, 6-0), No. 3 Oliver Naven (6-2, 6-1) and No. 5 Harshith Kumar (6-0, 6-0) also swept.

Sierra was spotted a win at No. 3 doubles, which Beyer forfeited.

Sparsh Beedi and Hasnain Ali defeated Jessie Phillips and Logan Smith 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 doubles match. Zain Ali and Alex Rey Rosario rolled, 6-0, 6-0.

BASEBALL

Pacheco 15, Lathrop 5 (6)

The host Panthers (6-8, 8-13 overall) plated eight unanswered runs in the final three innings to run away with the Western Athletic Conference finale.

Senior Nazir Jones powered Lathrop (4-10, 7-16) with a bases-clearing triple and a run. Freshman Vaughn Sanchez knocked in a run and scored another.

Hilmar 9, Ripon Christian 1

Ripon Christian (6-6 Trans Valley League, 13-10 overall) had a seven-game winning streak snapped.

The Knights scored their lone run in the top of the fourth inning. Stadtler Postma was batted in by Tyler Wadlow.

John Lopez knocked in three runs for the TVL runner-up Yellowjackets (9-3, 17-4). John Labno hit a double, scored three runs and had two RBIs. Martin Kindberg (five hits, six strikeouts) was the winning pitcher.