Baseball leads off
Thank goodness, we finally received some snow, and thank goodness, baseball season started anyway! Quincy, Portola, Greenville and Chester ball players have been warming up in the gym or tossing the ball over snow on the field to get ready for the spring season.
“We just get out there in the snow,” said Quincy head baseball coach Brad Sylvia. But most of the field play for all the Plumas teams comes during out of town tournaments in warmer temperatures on drier fields.
Los Molinos Tournament
March 6 through 10, Quincy, Greenville and Chester baseball teams traveled down the hill to challenge each other and local talent on the Bulldog fields. It was a joy to see dust fly instead of a splash when players dove or slid to a base.
Greenville Indians
The first Plumas team to take the mound was the Greenville Indians who took on Fall River. Traditionally the Bulldogs are one of the toughest teams around and it looks like this year is starting off no different. This was the first time the Indians had any field time with weather hampering outdoor practice so far this season and Fall River won 9-0.
During the warm-up game for GHS, senior Alex Tassone stole a base. The Indians faced two Bulldog pitchers, freshman Blake Boyes and junior Luke Boyes. Together they struck out 13 GHS batters, but the Greenville pitching team also did well against the Bulldog batters with Tassone striking out five, junior Kolby Elzea striking out four and sophomore Brian Smalley striking out one Bulldog.
That same afternoon the Indians tried their hand against the Mercy Warriors and were victorious 9-8. The biggest slugger for GHS was junior Tristin Clark with three runs!
Crossing home plate against the Warriors were GHS batters Aaron Mecum, Trevor Barr, Alex Tassone, Kolby Elzea, Brian Smalley and Isiah Hilpert. Sophomores Harlan Savala and Hilpert each hit a double. All the other bases were taken the hard way, one at a time. Elzea had three RBIs, Tassone and sophomore Nick Hampton hit in two runners each and Mecum and Clark each had an RBI.
Quick instincts helped Clark steal three bases, Hilpert stole two and freshman Trevor Barr stole one.
GHS utilized four Indian pitchers, with Clark pitching the most and striking out nine batters. Greenville pitchers warming up the mound were Mecum, Barr and Hampton.
The Indians traveled back home after those two games and returned to the tournament March 9 to face Esparto. The Spartans won 11-4. If you could remove just one inning, the second where Esparto scored eight runs, the game would have been tied. It wasn’t home runs or triples that beat the Indians, it was base stealing in that wicked second inning. The Spartans were really on their game stealing 12 bases from the Greenville team.
Scoring runs for GHS were Barr, Tassone, Hampton and Clark. Mecum, Elzea and Smalley pitched for Greenville and were unable to strike out a single Spartan.
Quincy vs. Chester
The Trojans beat the Vols 10-2 on day three of the tourney March 8. Drew Baumgartner scored two runs; Luke Borghi scored two; and Kainoa Hall, Simon McQuarrie, Dominic Rinetti, Johnny Pini and Anakin Borghi all came across home plate too. McQuarrie really changed the game when he hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning. Up until then the game looked like the teams might ride side by side throughout with the score 2-2.
McQuarrie’s total for the game was five RBIs, Rinetti hit two and Brady Peay, Baumgartner and Ryan Fernandez each had an RBI to contribute. Luke Borghi stole two bases from the Vols.
Hall and Pini pitched for the Trojans. Hall struck out eight Volcano batters.
“This is the first time on the field,” said CHS head coach Aaron Hardesty, who seemed as delighted as all the players and fans were for any outdoor game. Against the Trojans, Volcanoes Michael Bereznak and Adam Branch scored runs hit in by Jake Sarmento and Justin Burt. Branch pitched most of the game striking out eight Trojans with Volcano pitchers Sarmento and Hunter Snyder warming up the mound. Branch stole two bases from the Trojans and Sarmento stole one.
Chester Volcanoes
The Vols went on to beat the Eagles from Anderson 5-2 and the Hayfork Timberjacks 9-1 the following day.
Scoring big for Chester against the Eagles was senior Adam Branch with three runs. Bereznak and Burt scored the other two runs. Bereznak hit two doubles and Branch hit one double. Sarmento and Bereznak hit two RBIs each and Snyder knocked in one. Bereznak, Branch, Sarmento and Burt all stole a base from the Anderson pitcher, Conner McCoy. Branch had 12 put outs.
In the 9-1 victory over the Hayfork Timberjacks, Bereznak, Sarmento and Justin Burt each scored two runs. Branch, junior Tyler Davidge and sophomore Hunter Snyder each scored a run. Davidge hit three RBIs, Burt two and Sarmento and sophomore Justin Contreras hit one. Sarmento hit a triple and Davidge and Snyder hit doubles.
The Volcanoes did well stealing bases against the Timberjacks. Bereznak and Branch stole two each and Sarmento, Davidge and Burt each got away with one.
Burt pitched the entire seven innings and struck out six batters. That’s a total of 92 pitches already for senior Burt this season.
Quincy Trojans
After the victory over Chester in the first game for the Trojans, the Quincy boys went on to play the Maxwell Panthers later that same afternoon. The Trojans shaved the hair right off those big cats and won 11-1.
Three RBIs from senior Simon McQuarrie were a big help as seniors Drew Baumgartner and Anakin Borghi each crossed home plate twice. Single runs were scored by Ryan Fernandez, Kai Hall, Luke Borghi, McQuarrie, Dominic Rinetti, Brady Peay and Justin Garner.
The Trojans were light on their feet stealing nine bases, two by Baumgartner, Luke Borghi, Justin Garner and Anakin Borghi and a single by Peay. Ryan Fernandez really cleaned up the field making 10 plays that resulted in an out.
Senior Anakin Borghi pitched the entire five innings of the game and struck out 10 Panther batters while he did so.
Two days later, March 10, the Trojan boys returned to the tournament to face Fall River. The Bulldogs are a tough team, but the Quincy boys were able to come out on top, 15-13.
Fighting hard, the innings were long and the teams were only able to play three before the game timed out. Quincy held the Bulldogs to no runs in the first inning while QHS was able to add five runs to the scoreboard. Those tough dogs came back, though, hard and mad and scored nine runs in the second inning. Quincy was consistent though and added four of their own, tying up the score 9-9.
Fall River was held to four runs in the third inning and the Trojans were able to sail by the Bulldogs with six runs to win the game.
Fernandez, Anakin Borghi and McQuarrie came across home plate three times each! Hall and Pini each scored two runs and Baumbartner and Rinetti added a run. Rinetti was on fire with five RBIs, McQuarrie three and Peay and Pini hit in two runners.
McQuarrie led the pack stealing four bases, Baumgartner and Borghi each stole one.
Pitchers on the mound were Baumgartner with three strikeouts, Fernandez, McQuarrie and Peay.
The win earned the Trojans a crack at first place in the tournament facing the host team, the Los Molinos Bulldogs. It was a close game, 8-7, but the home team came out on top.
Fernandez and Anakin Borghi scored two runs each for QHS. Single runs were scored by Hall, Rinetti and Peay. The Bulldogs were tough and only Anakin Borghi was able to steal a base from Los Mo. Ryan Fernandez managed to make eight plays that resulted in outs and Peay’s skill resulted in four. Pitching for the Trojans were Baumgartner, McQuarrie and freshman Justin Garner.
Pershing Co. Tournament
Portola boys’ baseball traveled a long way to play ball on a field free of snow March 8, 9 and 10. The boys split the games with two wins and two losses. Without the benefit of practicing on a baseball field, the team seemed to warm up as the losses were the first two games and the wins the last two.
First up on March 8, the Tigers took on Sparks. The Railroaders came out ahead 6-3. Senior Eric Jacobson came across home base twice and sophomore Justin Wicks crossed once. Junior Chandler Ross had two RBIs. Jacobson and Wicks each stole a base.
All four of the Tiger pitchers took the mound for a turn. Sophomore Irving Juarez struck out four batters, junior Hunter Cabral struck out three. Senior Carson Young and Jacobson each struck out two.
On day two, the Tigers faced the Virginia City Muckers and lost 15-0. Mucker is slang for “friend” in the UK and refers to a laborer. But whatever the Virginia City meaning, the Tigers will know to watch out for them in the future. Cabral hit a triple and Ross struck out six of those Muckers, but that’s about it other than good practice on a dry field against a talented foe. Four Tiger pitchers again took the mound, this time including freshman Taylor Koski, Young, Ross and Jacobson.
March 10 was a new day and the Tigers, now fully warmed up, took advantage to show their stuff. At 11 a.m., the Tigers took on the Battle Mountain Longhorns and won 7-6. Sophomore Drew Helbig and Wicks each scored two runs for PHS. Jacobson, Cabral and Young each scored a Tiger run. Freshman Elijah Lopez hit two RBIs. Jacobson, Ross, Wicks and Young each hit a single RBI.
Wicks stole two bases and Helbig and Jacobson each peeled an extra one off too. Helbig did well in the field closing the deal on nine outs and Wicks pulled off three.
Narrowing things down a bit, the Tigers utilized two of their pitchers, Jacobson and Cabral. Facing 20 batters, Cabral struck out nine.
With a win under their belt, the Tigers took on the host team, the Pershing County Mustangs and won 10-8.
Jacobson had his best game of the series scoring three runs for PHS. Wicks hit three RBIs. Runs were scored by just about every player on the Tigers’ lineup. Lopez and Jacobson both got away with safely stealing a pair of bases each. Helbig and freshman Zach Mulhall each stole one, too.
Going with something that worked, the Tigers again presented just a pair of pitchers, Young and Lopez. Four Mustang batters were struck out by Lopez and three by Young.
