Tracy Press

 
West High on Wednesday was beaten by St. Mary's, which won the Tri-City Athletic League title; Tracy lost but will finish first in its league.

St. Mary's 3, West High 2 

Two hits in the third inning and two more in the fourth were all the St. Mary’s baseball team needed for a 3-2 win over West High on Wednesday at West.

The only other hit the West defense allowed was an infield single as the Rams tried to bunt runners around the bases in the first inning.

West outhit St. Mary’s but also left more runners stranded, once with bases loaded in the third inning and again with two on base in the fourth and fifth.

“We had our opportunities. We just came up short,” head coach Jim Rice said. “Friday we’ll get back after them.”

With this win St. Mary’s, 9-0 in the Tri-City Athletic League and 17-9 overall, clinches its fifth league title in a row. West is in second place, 7-2 in TCAL and 17-9 overall, with one more game at St. Mary’s on Friday. Third-place Tokay of Lodi is also in the running for the league’s second playoff spot, depending on the outcome of the West-St. Mary’s game on Friday and the Tokay-Stagg game on Friday. Tokay beat Stagg 17-4 on Wednesday and is 6-3 in TCAL.

West’s starting pitcher Ryan Devencenzi pitched all seven innings and gave up five hits.

“Ryan pitched a heck of a game,” Rice said. “We just didn’t support him with our bats.”

One of those St. Mary’s hits was a Jake Cose double in the third, followed by Michael Rivera’s RBI single. The Rams also got on base with a Louie Lechich single in the fourth, and scored two with John Haberman’s home run over the right field fence.

Wednesday’s game saw both teams both having to make key plays on the field to throw out lead base runners.

West got two St. Mary’s runners out in the first inning, one on a throw from shortstop Josh Thomassen to catcher Mike Wentz who made the tag at home, and another from Wentz to third baseman Matt Fontaine to keep another runner from advancing on a bunt.

West started a rally in the fifth when Thomassen got on base through an infield error and Anthony Salsedo batted him home with a double down the right field line. Salsedo scored when Tyler Shepherd hit a high bouncer past the Rams’ second baseman. With one out both Rico Martinez and Ryan Devencenzi came through with singles to load the bases.

Wentz followed with a fly ball to right field and Shepherd tagged up on third and ran for home. St. Mary’s right fielder Michael Bahrenfuss made the catch and fired the ball back to catcher Michael River at home, where Shepherd was called out after he collided with Rivera.

“They were banging at our door every inning,” St. Mary’s coach Pete Pijl said. “We made the big defensive plays and we had to.”

West got runners in scoring position twice more, but left them stranded on base. Thomassen doubled in the sixth and advanced to third on a passed ball, and Shepherd singled in the seventh and stole second, but he was left on base at the end of the game.

Lincoln 4, Tracy 0

The Bulldogs came up with only one base hit Wednesday at Lincoln while the Trojans made the most of seven hits off Tracy pitchers Josh Frea and Bret Maddox.

Lincoln had sophomore left-hander Josh Rodriguez on the mound. He pitched seven innings and struck out nine Tracy batters.

“We didn’t hit the ball at all, and when we did hit the ball we didn’t hit it hard,” Tracy coach Vic Alkire said. The only Bulldog batter to connect was Daniel Heefner, who got on base with a shot to left field in the fifth inning.

Even with a loss Wednesday, Tracy High is assured of a first place finish in the San Joaquin Athletic Association with a 7-2 league record, 20-5 overall. Lincoln is now 6-3 in the SJAA and can claim a share of the league title if the Trojans beat Tracy at home on Friday.

Friday’s game will be the second matchup this season in the SJAA’s main rivalry for the past four years. Alkire noted that Lincoln has taken first place in league for the previous three years, with Tracy in second each time and the deciding games at the end of the season.

(S) Lincoln 3, Tracy 2

Lincoln clinched the SJAA title with a 9-0 record with this win Wednesday over second place Tracy, which is 7-2 in the SJAA and 22-3 overall. Coach Ken Perez said the Bulldog team played a solid defensive game, but got only a couple key hits. Jake Rivera hit a double and scored both of Tracy’s runs, and Robbie Jackman got one hit for an RBI and another sacrifice fly to score Tracy’s other run.

(S) St. Mary’s 8, West 0

Jonathan Townsend’s double was the only hit West could muster on Wednesday while St. Mary’s collected 11 off West’s pitchers. Starting pitcher Mike Carillo gave up 10 hits and six earned runs, and West also had five errors on defense as St. Mary’s scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings. West is now at 6-3 in TCAL and 14-12 overall.

We want to hear what you have to say. Comment on this story at www.tracypress.com, or to reach Sports Editor Bob Brownne call 830-4227 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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written by Baseball Fan , May 08, 2008

Jake Rivera hit a double and scored both of Tracy’s runs, and Robbie Jackman got one hit for an RBI and another sacrifice fly to score Tracy’s other run.

**Just a correction for you...Jake Rivera had a double. Robbie Jackman scored had both RBI's***

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