One defensive play is not significant in a blowout, but Sierra second baseman J.T. Ortiz-Martinez had an outstanding one in the seventh inning of an 8-0 Valley Oak League baseball win over visiting Manteca on Tuesday that showed Timberwolves’ grit. 
Trailing 8-0 going into the top of the seventh, the Buffaloes’ Ryan Ward led off the frame with a sharp grounder between second and first. Ortiz-Martinez dove and extended fully, knocking the ball down and throwing Ward out from his knees. This kept Manteca off the board as the Buffaloes got two hits that inning and left runners at second and third to end the game.
“At practice I noticed I hadn’t been taking good angles to the ball,” Ortiz-Martinez said. “And that ball came along at the perfect time because I had been working on fielding those.
“I threw him out from my knees — I have been practicing on that too — but I probably didn’t need to because he was only halfway up the line, but I was too excited.”
Jacob Peterson picked up the complete game win for the Timberwolves (4-2 VOL, 9-7 overall), striking out six while allowing six hits and walking one.
“My defense played great today,” Peterson said. “They were fantastic. They were knocking down balls and making great plays, especially J.T.’s play in the seventh inning. It was big to get that first out there.
“I felt a little nervous the first couple of innings, then I settled down and felt I was hitting the zone pretty well.” 
Sierra totaled 11 hits with Peterson going 2 for 4 with a run, Ortiz-Martinez was 2 for 3 with an RBI, Hunter Frisk had an RBI double and a run and leadoff batter Chase Sperbeck reached base three times on a single and a pair of walks, scoring twice and adding an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
“We played well today,” Timberwolves coach Jack Thomson said. “We put together good at-bats against a good pitcher and we played catch, minus one fly ball we dropped in the outfield. When you do that, you have a chance to beat a good team and that is a good team over there.”
Tuesday’s convincing win comes on the heels of Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 walk-off win over Central Catholic of Modesto.
“I think winning Saturday put a little pep back in our step,” said Thomson, who is now two away from his career 600th. “Baseball is a funny game and I think if we would have got beat Saturday I think we would have been flat as a pancake today.
“It gave us a little energy.”  
Until the seventh inning when Matthew Ender hit a two-out single and took third on Dominic Rea’s double, the Buffaloes (4-3, 11-6-1) had not got a runner past second base.
“They came out ready to play with purpose and intensity and we came out flat,” Manteca coach Neil MacDannald said. “Regardless of how the ball bounced, we weren’t ready to go today and it was very evident by not only the outcome but the whole process of the game. We just have to get back to the practice field and go about our business with purpose and resolve and start that uphill climb we are going to need or we will be in more games like this.
“Hats off to J.P. (Peterson), he pitched a heck of a game. Their guys competed at the plate against our No. 1 guy and they played defense. We have to get back to basics and play the way we know how and I’ll be happy if we can do that.”

Sophomore
Manteca 4, Sierra 3
The Buffaloes (14-2-1) scored three runs at the top of the fifth inning for a 4-1 lead and held on for the win.
Nate Gutierrez pitched six solid innings, giving up two unearned runs while striking out six. Isaac Searcy went 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs. Isaiah Perez contributed a RBI double and finished 2 for 3. Joel Gallo also drove in a run.