LATHROP — Lathrop High is closing in on its first boys volleyball championship after sweeping past Mountain House on Tuesday, 25-9, 25-14, 15-10.
The Spartans (8-0, 22-1 overall), who suffered their first loss of the season to powerhouse Jesuit this past weekend, have one more round of matches against Western Athletic Conference opponents. They lead second-place Ceres by two matches with four remaining.
Sophomore setter RJ Carmesis helped key the lopsided win against Mountain House (2-5, 4-8) with 28 assists, five service aces and six digs.
Gabriel Gutierrez swatted his way to 12 kills. Tyler Riggleman added 10 kills and four aces. He and Gutierrez also contributed nine digs apiece. Mark Fabian paced the defense with 12 digs.

BASEBALL
Lathrop 6, Pacheco 5
LATHROP — Matt Julien put the exclamation point on a 13-hit attack for the Spartans (1-3 WAC, 1-7 overall) on Friday with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh for the first Lathrop win of the year.
The Spartans put up three runs in the fourth inning behind hits by Julien, Michael Pacheco and Elijah Bermudez (4 for 4). Jeremiah Estante nabbed two of the eight stolen bases for Lathrop.
Daniel Navarro pitched the first five innings for Spartans, going five innings and allowing four runs on four hits while striking out seven. Branden Sanders came in for the final two innings to get the win.

SOFTBALL
Ripon Christian 11, Delhi 0
DELHI — The Knights (5-1, 9-3 overall) broke it open with a four-run fourth inning to lead 5-0, but Delhi (3-4, 6-8) did well to avoid the mercy rule in the Southern Athletic League affair.
Ripon Christian slugged 12 hits and was led by Ariel Vander Woude, who hammered a pair of doubles, scored twice and drove in a run while finishing 4 for 4.
Liz Thomas also hit a double and went 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Madison DeGraaf pitched all seven innings and struck out 12 in the one-hit shutout.

BOYS GOLF
TVL Tournament
PATTERSON — Nico Ilardi took a big step toward earning the Trans-Valley League’s top individual award after his low-medalist round in the mid-season tournament held at Diablo Grande.
The Ripon junior finished 4-over 76, while teammate Cade McCusker ended as the runner-up with an 83. Jacob Baird placed fourth with an 86. Kenny Johnson (98), Gage Anderson (101) and Aidan Nilsson (110) also participated for the Indians.

Ripon 213, Modesto Christian 341
PATTERSON — The league tourney also served as a dual match for Ripon. Only front-nine scores were counted. Indians scorers were Ilardi (38), McCusker (39), Baird (42), Johnson (46) and Anderson (48).

Ripon Christian 183, Gustine 244
RIPON — Camdan Indelicato carded a 1-over 32 at Jack Tone Golf Course as the Knights improved to 5-0 in the SAL. Danton Indelicato added a 33, Darin Doek a 36, Dylan Koolhaus a 40 and Alec Berghorst a 42.
 
BOYS TENNIS
Grace Davis 7, Lathrop 2
LATHROP — Ritchie Blase outlasted Damian Medrano 6-3, 1-6, 10-5 for one of Lathrop’s two wins.
Matthew Schuck also won a third-set tiebreaker, toppling Jonathan Zeng, 6-1, 1-6, 10-5. Cian De Leon nearly achieved the same but fell short against David Mendoza, 6-3, 4-6, 11-9.

JV volleyball
Lathrop 2, Mountain House 0
LATHROP — The Spartans (6-0 WAC, 8-3 overall) rolled to a 25-11, 25-17 victory.
Arman John finished with five kills, three aces and three digs. Tory Sumbler accumulated nine assists and eight digs. Darian Gavino picked up eight digs.