Tracy Press

The league-leading Bulldogs will begin playoffs at 7 p.m. Wednesday at University of the Pacific.

Tracy High third baseman Ricky Diaz throws to teammate Vince Canale for a play at first base in Friday's game against Lincoln. Photo by Glenn Moore.

Lincoln had a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning, and Tracy left fielder Ryan Scornaienchi wasn’t going to wait for his opportunity. He swung at the first pitch he saw and sent it far over the center-field fence. His solo home run made it a new ball game.

“I was just trying to drive it up the middle to get us started,” Scornaienchi said afterward. “Just knowing we were tied with no outs, my teammates could do the rest of the job.”

Lincoln replaced starting pitcher John Bowling with John Solis, who walked Vince Canale and then struck out Kyle Moses and B.J. O’Bryan. Canale stole second and advanced to third on the missed throw to second.

Bobby Agard walked and stole second. With the winning run on third, sophomore Ricky Diaz was up and had two strikes on him when a pitch went in the dirt and past Lincoln’s catcher.

“I saw the wild pitch and I took off,” Canale said. “Halfway down, I saw it bounce back, and I thought it would be a play at the plate.”

Solis ran forward from the mound for the play, but he bobbled the toss from the catcher as Canale dove in for the winning run.

Tracy High’s Stevie Ramos dives back to first base as he beats the tag on the pick-off attempt by Lincoln first baseman Jordan Enos during Friday’s home game. Photo by Glenn Moore.

The outcome knocked Lincoln out of playoff contention. Head coach Ryan Murray said his team did well to get a win Wednesday against Tracy, and it was in the game all the way Friday.

“I told my guys they showed a ton of heart,” he said. “We’ve been on their end before, and we’ve been on this end. I know we’re going to come back next year really hungry.”

Lincoln took the lead in the second inning after Anthony Garcia hit the ball past Tracy center fielder Justin Evans to drive in two.

Tracy came back in the third with three, including a run batted in by Stevie Ramos and two more that scored on bases-loaded walks. Tracy scored again in the fourth, when Ricky Diaz singled on a line drive to left field and Ramos followed with a home run over the center field fence.

Lincoln made it a 6-5 game on a string of base hits in the sixth inning off starting pitcher Daniel Heefner and reliever Kyle Moses.

(S) Tracy 6, Lincoln 2

Tracy’s sophomores ended SJAA play with a win that denied the Lincoln team an undefeated league season.

“It meant a lot to us today,” coach Ken Perez said. “They came in to close us out, and we did pretty well.”

Tracy’s 8-2 league finish leaves the Bulldogs in second place behind 9-1 Lincoln.

Tracy took advantage of its opportunities to score six in the second inning, led by Robbie Jackman’s two-run double. Alex Flores and Jonathon Combs also batted in runs, and winning pitcher Jake Finney kept the Trojans to four hits in five innings.

(F) Lincoln 7, Tracy 6

The Lincoln Trojans had a big third inning and scored one more in the bottom of the sixth after Tracy came from behind to tie the game in the top of the sixth.

Tracy’s Tyler Daily was the lead hitter for the Bulldogs on Thursday at Lincoln, with three base hits and two runs scored. Tracy also got hits from James Fisher, Nick Camper, Andy Levand and Matt Patterson.

Lincoln 4, Tracy 0

Tracy High’s Justin Evans (left) just misses the deep fly ball as two score in Friday's game against Lincoln. B.J. O’Bryan closes in from the right. Photo by Glenn Moore.

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.

(S) Lincoln 3, Tracy 2

Lincoln clinched the SJAA title with a 9-0 record with this win Wednesday over second-place Tracy. Coach Ken Perez said the Bulldog team played a solid defensive game but got only a couple of 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.

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