Tracy Press

Wins today and Wednesday gave Millennium High the title in a local event created to honor the team’s late assistant coach.

Ordinarily, Millennium High baseball coach Jayson Diaz said, he would have put in a relief pitcher to finish the high-scoring game.

But junior pitcher Jake Vierra was confident he could shut down the batters from Tioga High of Groveland this afternoon. A victory would also seal the win in the tournament named in memory of Vierra’s father, Augie Vierra, who helped build the baseball team at the local charter school as assistant coach.

The Falcons prevailed 12-9 over Tioga, and in addition to pitching all seven innings, Jake Vierra was the team’s leading batter for the day with three hits, including a double and a triple.

“Once he gets that determined, I want to leave him in,” Diaz said.

After Millennium’s batters took back the lead in the sixth inning, Vierra retired three Tioga batters in a row in the top of the seventh to end the game.

The school established the tournament in honor of Augie Vierra and also has dedicated the season to the team’s late coach, who died unexpectedly in early February as the season began. In honor of Vierra, the players all wear “A.V.” on the sleeves of their uniforms.

Jake Vierra said his father’s determination to make baseball happen at Millennium inspires him. He said he father urged him to transfer from West High to the charter school, where he could do better academically and be part of the new baseball team.

“I know he wanted me to keep playing baseball,” Vierra said. “I feel he was right next to me when I was throwing and hitting.”

As the Falcons inaugurate a new baseball field and start their first year of league play, the tournament will help the charter school establish prep sports as part of the school’s culture.

The Falcons’ game today started while class was in session, but some of the teachers let students out so they could be at the game. Vierra said his campus has embraced its athletes.

“The come out at every home game and support us,” he said, “and the teachers support us too.”

Diaz, who is also the school’s athletic director, said sporting events on campus add excitement to the life of the charter school.

“They have something to come watch and be proud of,” he said.

For this week’s tournament, the baseball team invited Mountain Oaks High of San Andreas, Tioga High in Groveland and Venture Academy of Stockton. Both Mountain Oaks and Tioga are in the Mountain Valley League, which is separate from Millennium’s league, Harvest Christian, and the teams are all in Division VII of the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Millennium won Wednesday’s game against Venture Academy on a forfeit after the Stockton team showed up with only eight players. They played an exhibition game instead, while Mountain Oaks and Tioga played in a second game Wednesday.

Today, players from Millennium and Tioga both hit the ball well and tested the other team’s defensive skills.

“We were able to keep them from getting big innings,” assistant coach Drew Reyes said. “We put the pressure on. When they would score, we would match them.”

Millennium’s leadoff batters, Chris Ybarra-Martinez and Jonny Rojas, got the team started with a double each in the first inning. Vierra and Jonathan Beringer also notched hits to help score the first three runs for the Falcons.

Tioga had the game tied at 5-5 in the middle of the fourth inning, which was when the Falcons’ Andrew Sanabria came off the bench to get his first of two hits in the game, and the first two of his four RBIs.

“He was really a clutch player for us,” Reyes said.

Tioga threatened to come back in the sixth and tied the score again at 9-9, but Millennium responded in the bottom of the sixth with three runs.

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