Lathrop’s postseason hopes took a hit on Friday when Western Athletic Conference-leading Mountain House thoroughly beat the host Spartans, 14-0.

Starting pitcher Roy Gardner threw six scoreless innings for the Mustangs (11-1, 17-7 overall) and drilled a leadoff home run in the seventh innings. Mountain House scored five times in the final frame.

Lathrop was held without a run all week. On Wednesday, the Spartans dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker in nine innings at Mountain House. The rematch quickly got away from them, as four errors helped the Mustangs trot out to a 5-0 lead after three innings.

“Just a couple errors early, and they were swinging the bat well today,” Lathrop assistant coach Jon Estante said, filling in for Charles Garcia. “They found the holes on us, so things just kind of took off quick.”

The early run support was more than enough for Gardner, who scattered five hits, walked one and struck out 10.

“I’d say mainly the speed of the ball,” Lathrop senior shortstop Jasper Tover said of the difficulty his team had against Mountain House’s pitching this week. “Every other team we’ve faced; it was pretty much slower. Other (pitchers) we faced probably had more movement on it. Since these (pitches) were faster they were a little more flat, and we’re not used to seeing it.”

Tover accounted for three of Lathrop’s hits. He doubled with one out in the first inning but was left stranded. In the third inning, Omare Cross laced a double down the third-base line. Tover reached with an infield single, but Gardner got out of it by inducing a 6-4-3 double play.

The Spartans next best chance to break through was in the sixth when they loaded the bases. Gardner struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Tyler Jordan took over in the seventh inning and faced five batters.

“Their pitcher had a good day,” Estante said. “He kept us off balanced and couldn’t get the timely hits. We got runners on, we just couldn’t continue the hits. Left too many runners on base.”

Cameron Valentine headed Mountain House’s 13-hit attack, going 3 for 4 with three runs and an RBI. No. 9 batter Isaiah Owen went 2 for 4 with two RBI doubles. Jordan reached in all five of his plate appearances, finishing 2 for 4 with an RBI double and two runs.

Lathrop still has a shot at reaching the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the first time, but it won’t be easy. The Spartans end the regular season

next week against second-place Los Banos (9-2, 10-7), which is a game back of Mountain House. The Tigers visit next Monday on Lathrop’s senior night.

Only the top four teams in the WAC advance to the postseason, and Lathrop currently shares the No. 4 spot with Beyer, which holds the tiebreaking advantage after sweeping the Spartans in a doubleheader.

“It’s going to take a team effort,” said Tover, a fourth-year varsity starter. “We come back Monday to play Los Banos, and we have to get our bats going. We had six errors this game, gotta fix that.

“Since my freshman year, our focus has been to make the playoffs every year. It would mean a lot making it.”