Bulldogs walk away with victory in Williams

All it took was two big innings for the Los Molinos High baseball team to cruise to a 9-2 non-league victory Tuesday against Williams.

The Bulldogs took the lead early, scoring three times in the top of the first inning, and crossed the plate six times in the fourth.

A.J. Long led off the first with a single and Edward Garnica drilled a double to center field. An error and three walks later the Bulldogs led 3-0.

Williams pitcher Korey Steinke regained his control and tossed two shutout innings before Los Molinos broke through in the fourth with the help of three errors and four walks.

The Bulldogs cashed in on the Yellowjackets' mistakes on a sacrifice fly by Reggie Points, and Jesse Dodero hit a two-run single.

"We're not a team that's going to overpower people so when people give us a base we've got to take advantage of it," said Los Molinos coach Tom Stevens.

Los Molinos managed seven hits but 12 walks, one hit-by-pitch and four errors provided plenty of scoring opportunities.

Wayne Spencer led the Bulldogs with three walks and Garnica went 2 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and a walk.

"I think we're better about knowing small parts of the game and I think we get a lot of juice out of our grape. You know, we've got nine kids but our nine know the game," Stevens said.

After tossing four shutout innings to start the game, Bulldogs sophomore pitcher Long allowed two runs in the fifth. Two walks and an error loaded the bases with one out before freshman Alfredo Velasquez hit a hard single back up the middle to drive in Ben Mayes and Erik Knight.

"(Long) competed, it's a big improvement for him from the start of the year," Stevens said. "That's the longest, the most he's ever thrown."

Long finished the game with 12 strikeouts in seven innings while allowing four hits and walking eight.

Mayes tossed the final three innings for the Yellowjackets and held the Bulldogs scoreless while working around five walks.

Knight went 2 for 4 at the plate with a double and a run scored for the Yellowjackets. Steinke reached base three times on walks, Velasquez added two walks to his two-run single, and Mayes went 1 for 3 with a walk, stolen base and a run.

Despite the two poor innings, Williams coach Travis Hayes has seen his team improve significantly on defense throughout the season.

"Our first few games we made tons of errors. We really cut those down but we still had that one inning where we made three, but I think for the most part the errors have really slowed down and it lets us stay in games a lot better that way," Hayes said.

Williams (0-9, 0-2 Mid Valley-South) traveled to Biggs on Friday and hosts Quincy at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Los Molinos (2-5, 1-0 Mid Valley-North) played Hamilton on Thursday and Portola on Friday. The Bulldogs return to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday with a home game against Esparto.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.