It was a tough battle but it ultimately went into the loss column for Oakdale’s varsity Mustang baseball team, kicking off Valley Oak League action on the road on March 27.

The Monday game at Central Catholic went in the books as a 12-8 loss. Oakdale jumped on top of the host team with three runs in the top of the first but Central roared back, putting nine runs on the board in the bottom of the second. Oakdale continued to chip away but could never quite catch the Raiders. Junior Glen Weber went 3-for-4 on the day with two runs scored and four RBI to pace the effort.

Closing out preseason play before starting VOL, the Mustangs hosted Lodi in a Saturday, March 25 contest. The visiting Flames won by a 13-3 final.

Lodi took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first but Oakdale answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of that frame. But Lodi had too much firepower, adding four in the fourth, two more runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and one in the seventh. Oakdale pushed another run across in the sixth.

The varsity squad is 2-5-1 overall, 0-1 in league.

JUNIOR VARSITY

The JV boys got a win in their VOL opener, defeating Central Catholic by an 8-4 final on March 27. The team scored in five different innings, with two runs in the first, second and sixth; one run in the third and fifth on the way to the victory. Evan Criswell led the team with three hits.

In non-league play, the team lost 11-7 to Lodi on Saturday, March 25 and earlier in the week crafted a 12-0 shutout win on the road at Tokay. The JV boys stand at 5-4 overall, 1-0 in league.

FRESHMEN

With a record of 3-3-1 for the season, the latest contest for the Oakdale freshmen was a 3-0 loss to Lodi on March 25. Central does not have a freshman team so the Oakdale frosh didn’t start the league schedule at the same time as their JV and varsity counterparts.