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Three Invitational Games Sees Trio Of JV Victories
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A busy Spring Break week for Escalon’s JV baseball boys saw them win all three games they played at the Mark Dickens Invitational, with the contests on the diamonds at host school Oakdale.

“Our first game was Wednesday (March 30) against Merced and we won, 11-0,” said JV head coach Ken Baptista. “We were the visitors in this game and Colton Lowney threw a no-hitter, he pitched five innings and had 10 strikeouts.”

Estephan Salcedo went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base; Cole Gilbert went 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

“Then we had two games on Thursday, first we played Oakdale on their varsity field, we won a very close, very good game by a score of 4-3,” Baptista said.

The final out, in fact, came with the Oakdale runner attempting to steal third and he was thrown out there to end the game.

“Steven Grossi went the complete game and got the win, three strikeouts with three runs given up, two of them earned,” explained Baptista. “Salcedo went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.”

Rounding out the tournament with a second game on Thursday, March 31, Escalon’s JV boys faced off against El Capitan of Merced and took a 10-5 win off the field.

Using their third pitcher in as many days, Paul Ayala got the start and struck out six over five innings of work. Tanner McCrary came on to pitch the final two innings of relief.

The finale was a good game in many ways, said Baptista.

“We just hit the ball well and this was a total team effort,” the coach noted. “Everybody got in, everybody played and contributed, it was a good final tune up before league.”

Offensive leaders were Max Nicholas, 2-for-3 with an RBI; Ayala, 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI; Salcedo, 3-for-4 with two RBIs; Gilbert, 3-for-5 with an RBI; Nash Satnat, 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Baptista said he was pleased to see the team stay focused during the week off school, coming to the field ready to play, and getting three wins along the way. Now, they jump into Trans-Valley League action, hosting Riverbank on Thursday, April 7. They were scheduled to start the TVL campaign on the road, traveling to face the JV Bruins in Riverbank yesterday, April 5, after The Times went to press.