The Los Banos High baseball team claimed another Central California Conference series two games to one this past week as Jesse Vasquez put on a show in each Los Banos victory.
On Monday at Merced High, Vasquez had a whopping 6 RBIs off a pair of bases-clearing doubles as the Tiger turned over a 3-run deficit to win by 3 runs, 14-11.
On Wednesday at home, the senior right-hander was on fire on the pitching mound, ringing up 10 Bears in 6.2 innings for the 6-5 victory.
“He’s a quiet leader, not the rah-rah kind of guy,” Los Banos coach Ernie Lugo said of Vasquez. “He just leads by example, doing the right things for his team.”
Merced managed to salvage a win in the series finale on Friday, picking up an 8-5 victory against the visiting Tigers (7-7, 4-2 CCC) to improve to 2-9, 1-5.
On Monday, Los Banos was trailing 7-4 going into the top of the sixth inning before filling the bases for Vasquez on walks by Ben Lugo, Elijah Mejia and John Snapp. Vasquez then proceeded to clear them to take an 8-7 lead. Andrew Lopez plated Vasquez on a single to complete the 5-run outburst.
For good measure, the Tigers tacked on another 5-spot in the seventh.
“Elijah blasted a 2-run home run over the scoreboard in right field for insurance in the seventh,” Coach Lugo said of his senior, who scored 3 runs in that game as did his son, Benjamin Lugo.
And Mejia had more home runs in him, taking a solo shot over the wall to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the third inning in Wednesday’s win, which ultimately went down to the wire.
Freshman Andrew Lopez led off the seventh, reaching on an error and taking second base. This time senior Matt Reece came through for Los Banos, driving a walkoff double to right center field for the 6-5 win to assure the series victory.
Colton Kocher had the hot bat for Los Banos on Friday, going 3 for 4 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run scored in the loss.
Up next: After a week off that also coincides with spring break, Los Banos will resume play on Tuesday, April 7, against Escalon (at 12:30) and Oakdale (3:30) at the Mark Dickens Tournament in Oakdale. The Tigers return to their home diamond for CCC action on Monday, April 13, to kick off a 3-game series against Atwater.
