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Winning Steak Continues For JV Baseball Boys
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Winning two games at home, the JV Cougar boys got some outstanding offensive production and put away Riverbank and Hughson this week.

Hosting Riverbank on Tuesday, the boys won by virtue of the 10-run rule, leading 12-2 after six innings.

"Steve Gentry went four innings, it was his best outing of the year, he had good command of his pitches and allowed just one run, two hits," said coach Steve French. "Geoff Smith pitched the final two innings and allowed one run."

Along with the strong pitching, the big story of the game was Nate Keyser, who made an impression each time at the plate. He rapped out a two-run homer, a three-run homer and an RBI single for a six-RBI day.

"Atom Garcia had a double, Eddie DeFreitas got his first start at catcher and did a good job, he also had a double, sacrifice fly and two RBIs," noted French. "Steve Largent had a single and we got everyone in the game, everyone got to hit. Rory Riggs scored the run that gave us the 10-run advantage."

Thursday, the boys took the field against Hughson and, battling a stiff wind, played early like they didn't want to win the game.

"It started out like we might be trying to give it away," French agreed of the contest. "In the first inning, we allowed two walks, an error and wild pitch that scored a run."

The JV Cougars prevailed in the end, 7-4, but had a hard time getting focused.

"In the second inning, they had a bunt single, a steal and another single," French said of Hughson tacking on another run. "In the third, two errors led to two runs."

Hughson had just three hits on the day and parlayed them into four runs. Escalon had nine hits, seven runs.

The host team scored in the first after falling behind, with Scott Sand and Phil Parrish both getting on with walks. Keyser then rapped out an RBI single. Parrish scored on what French termed a "weird steal" of home, when the batter got confused in the count.

Fourth inning action saw Justin Chandley get on with a double and Gentry drive him in. After two outs, the boys rallied for the winning runs, Sand getting on with a double and driving in a run, Parrish driving one in with a triple and Keyser following that up with an RBI single.

Jared August got the start on the mound and got stronger as the game went on, retiring 12 batters in a row from the fourth inning on.

"Jordan Ramirez made a nice catch in centerfield to end the fifth inning," noted French. "We're now 7-0 in league and 13-1 overall."

The boys host Hilmar in Thursday afternoon action, game time is 4 p.m.