It was a bounce back week for the Oakdale High School varsity baseball team, following their back-to-back losses to Sierra. Oakdale (10-5, 4-2) regrouped from those losses and answered with a sweep over Manteca (11-6, 2-2) this past week. The two-game set began with Oakdale knocking off Manteca 10-2 on Wednesday, April 10 at home and winning 4-2 on the road Friday evening.
A five-run sixth inning helped carry the Mustangs over the Buffaloes in game one. Down 2-0 after the top of the first inning, Oakdale got on the scoreboard with two outs in the bottom of the first when Hayden Knittel stole home on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the third Oakdale took the lead and never looked back. With two outs, Max Moore connected on a two-RBI double and Jacob Solorio hit an RBI single to give Oakdale a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the fourth inning, junior utility player Dom McDonald sent the ball over the left field fence for a solo home run with two outs to give Oakdale a 5-2 advantage.
“I just swung and saw the outfielder racing towards the fence, once I saw him put his glove down I knew it cleared,” said McDonald on his first home run. “It was just one of ten runs today, so it was definitely a team effort today.”
Oakdale’s momentum continued in the sixth inning as Brett Maddock hit an RBI single with no outs and Alex Daoud brought home two runs on a single to go up 8-2. The final runs of the game came off the bat of Austin Meeks on a two out, two-RBI double.
“This was a big win for our program,” said head coach Chris Henry.
Maddock pitched a complete game for Oakdale, giving up eight hits, striking out seven. It was Maddock’s fourth win of the season.
Much like their game on Wednesday, the boys found themselves in a 2-0 hole entering the fourth inning on Friday night. Oakdale then scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the seventh to earn the road win. Daoud went 3-for-4 at the plate and Knittel went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the game. Both Knittel and Daoud hit a triple in the win.
On the mound Josh Garcia picked up the road win and Marcus Juarez earned the save.
This week Oakdale will have a two game series against last place Weston Ranch (8-10, 0-6). The series begins on Wednesday, April 17 at 4 p.m. at Oakdale and concludes on Thursday night, April 18 at Weston Ranch.
JUNIOR VARSITY
It was a season sweep of Manteca for Oakdale’s JV boys, winning 13-12 and then 20-5. In the team’s 13-12 win, Preston Vierra collected multiple hits including a single, double and triple. Dom Antinetti also had multi-hit day. Landon Nunes brought in the tying run in the seventh inning on an error by Manteca’s catcher and Brody Ferreira then collected the game winning hit in the seventh.
Pitching for Oakdale in the 20-5 road win were Owen Pena and Cade Evans. The team’s Valley Oak League record following the sweep of Manteca was 3-2. On Monday, April 15 the boys played at Sierra in a make-up game from earlier in the month. The game was held following The Leader’s press time. Oakdale will host Weston Ranch on Wednesday and will play at Weston Ranch on Thursday.
FRESHMAN
Completing the Oakdale sweep over the Buffaloes, the youngest Mustangs notched a pair of victories. In game one the frosh boys won 4-2 behind Brecken Campbell and Gannon Camp, who collected two hits and an RBI each. Jacob Guignard and Ryan Krause each had an RBI in the game. Johnny Wylie pitched a complete game, striking out 10.
In the team’s 9-8 home win over Manteca, Dalton Vargas led the team with three hits and two RBI. Wylie collected two hits and two RBI. Krause pitched four-and-two-thirds innings for Oakdale. The freshmen are 6-0 in VOL play.
