Notching a win in between a pair of losses, host school Oakdale went 1-2 in its Mark Dickens Tournament over Spring Break.
“This tournament means a lot to our community and program, it is a great way to continue the legacy of Coach Mark Dickens,” OHS head coach Joey Machado said. “It was special to have Eriksen, Coach Dickens’ son, come talk to our team about his father and his message to life and baseball.”
He also threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the multi-team tournament.
Oakdale kicked their tourney play off by taking on Wheatland on Monday, April 10. Machado said the game was an 11-5 loss for his Mustangs.
A six-run fourth inning for Wheatland proved to be the difference. Oakdale did have eight hits on the day but committed two errors. Wheatland rapped out 13 hits with one error.
Tuesday, April 11 the host Mustangs took an 8-1 win over Los Banos. They jumped out with four runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Oakdale added a run in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth. Los Banos avoided a shutout by scoring a run in the top of the sixth.
Alex Jones had a home run for the Mustangs and Landon Schutte tossed a gem, striking out 10 in the victory. The home team also rapped out a dozen hits.
Closing out the tournament, it was a 6-2 loss to Central Valley of Ceres on Wednesday, April 12. The teams traded single runs in the first and third innings, but Central Valley broke out with four in the top of the seventh to take the contest from the Mustangs.
Jones again went deep for Oakdale, his second home run of the tournament. Carlo Antinetti added a pair of hits.
In the championship game of the tournament, Turlock shut out Downey, 9-0, said Machado.
“Now we get to go back to VOL (Valley Oak League) play,” the coach said. “It’s going to be a fun next three weeks; our boys are excited.”