On April 28, the Los Banos Tiger baseball team hosted the Golden Valley Cougars in the final week of the 2025 CCC league baseball season.
A Tiger victory would secure a first-round play-off berth in the Sac-Joaquin section playoff tournament.
The Tigers would call on senior left-handed pitcher Owen Baffunno to lead them into those playoffs, and Baffunno excelled in the role.
Baffunno would strike out the very first Cougar batter; however, the strike three pitch eluded Tiger catcher Josh Gargano, and the batter reached first base.
That was the one and only Cougar to ever reach base in the rest of the game, as Baffunno retired the next 15 batters in a row, (seven by strike-out), completing a “mercy rule” 10-0 no-hit victory over Golden Valley.
The Tiger offense paced by Gavin Blackwood-Estrada (3 for 4 H, 3 R, 3 RBI’s), Kolton Kanemoto (2 for 2 H, 2 R, 1 RBI) and Aaron Brisno (1 for 2, RBI) produced 10 runs by the fifth inning, resulting in the game ending in a “mercy rule” victory for Los Banos and a place in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin section playoffs.
