Staff reports of the
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
STOCKTON — Toughing out close victories is nothing new to Manteca High’s baseball team, but Monday’s Stagg Classic opener with West of Tracy wasn’t close.

Not at first.

The Buffaloes trailed 9-0 going into the bottom of the fifth but ended up prevailing 12-11.

Manteca (7-4-1) scored two in the fifth and five in the sixth before sophomore slugger Daniel Miramontes sparked the seventh-inning comeback with a leadoff home run.

Trey Roberts hammered a two-run double to tie it, and he later plated the winning run on a passed ball. Roberts was 2 for 4 with two doubles and two steals to lead the Buffaloes.

“Once we got the two runs in the fifth I could hear the guys saying that we’re going to come back,” Manteca coach Gene Ballardo said. “We came off the bus flat, and a good team like West will make you pay for that.

“But we never gave up. We didn’t play our best game, we had five errors, but we battled through them and came out on top.”

Kevin Peck also finished 2 for 4 for Manteca and drove in four RBIs. Miramontes ended up 2 for 3.

The three Matts saw action from the hill. West (7-5) hit Manteca’s rotation aces, Matt Burrows and Matt Barber, for five innings, but Matt Mueller settled things down in the sixth and seventh to help key the come-from-behind victory.

Mueller struck out four and allowed one run on one hit.

“That was the best I’ve seen (Mueller) pitch all year,” Ballardo said. “His velocity was up and his curveball was dropping for strikes. They had a tough time hitting him, and he showed me a lot today.”

Manteca continues tournament action today at 1 p.m. against host Stagg, and Wednesday at 1 p.m. against Edison.

WEST SACRAMENTO — East Union (4-6) hopes to have its early-season struggles behind it after two decisive victories that each lasted five innings in the River City Classic Monday.

 It all started on the pitcher’s mound, where Joe Modesto and Brett Riley shined in complete-game efforts. Against Windward of Los Angeles, Modesto struck out three and allowed three hits and two walks.

Bethel of Vallejo struggled against Riley, who fanned six batters while yielding five hits and three walks. Even better, the Lancers had no errors in both games.

“We’ll take the runs, obviously, but the areas we really needed to improve on were defense and pitching. Hopefully we can carry that through the end of the tournament and back into (Valley Oak) league.”

East Union completes round-robin play today against River City.

Ricky Indertbizin led the Lancers from the dish, where he was 4 for 4 with four RBIs overall. Sophomore Steven Gigli finished 4 for 6 with two RBIs and stole four bases against Bethel.

FRESNO — Sierra (5-3) battled Bullard tough in the early going, but Ryan Wells’ two-run double in the bottom of the sixth helped break open a close game in the opening round of the Fresno Easter Classic Monday.

The Timberwolves jumped ahead 2-1 in the top of the first when John Waggy scored on a wild pitch and Joey Valencia drove in their final run on a fielder’s choice, but the lead was short-lived.

Sierra could only muster three hits with one each coming from Kenny Leasure, Alex Arreola and Bryce Willis. Shelton Autry and Chewy Telesco were each 3 for 4 for the Knights (8-5).

Sierra next plays Sanger this morning at 10 before taking on Centennial of Bakersfield at 1 p.m.

WESTON RANCH — The Cougars (3-7) had no problem getting on base in a non-league contest Monday but struggled behind a solid pitching effort from Antonio Joseph.

Joseph lasted five innings, striking out six walking three. Three of the six runs he gave up were earned. Joseph also hit a solo homer to highlight a 1-for-2 effort at the plate with two walks. Akiha Etu was 2 for 4 with three RBIs, a double and a triple.

“I thought we hit the ball fairly decent,” WR coach Dave Smith said. “Our approach at the plate was pretty good, but we made some little mental errors on the field that cost us the game.”