MODESTO — The two-time, defending champions of the Central California Athletic League now have a two-game lead over its crosstown rivals following an action-packed week of baseball.
The reigning champion Bulldogs of Turlock High School were the beneficiaries of facing a struggling Modesto High team and the Gregori Jaguars taking two of three from the second-place Pride of Pitman High.
Turlock won by lopsided scores of 15-0 on Monday, 10-0 on Wednesday and 13-1 on Friday against the winless Panthers. Mason Hackler was Wednesday’s winning pitcher after tossing a six-inning, 12-strikeout no-hitter.
Meanwhile, the Pride held off a late rally Monday before securing a 19-6 victory, but were victims of a 4-2 loss at home on Wednesday and were on the wrong end of a three-hour, 13-8 shootout on Friday.
The Bulldogs improved to 11-1 against conference opponents, while the Pride dropped to 9-3.
Even with the contrasting results over the past few days, the CCAL crown is still up for grabs with the two local programs now set to face off in a three-game series next week.
The math is simple. For the Bulldogs to clinch a three-peat, they’d have to win just one game against the Pride. As for Pitman, a sweep is needed to claim the program’s first league championship since 2023.
Games on Monday and Friday will be played at the Pitman High campus. Wednesday’s contest will be held at Mark de la Motte Field on the Turlock High campus. All games are slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch.
Cooper Pacheco led the way in the RBI category for the Bulldogs on Monday, driving in three and scoring three times on a double and two walks. Brock Arellano and Landyn Fitzgerald also drove in two runs each. The ace of the staff, Pacheco threw two scoreless innings while punching out three. In relief, Cameron Henard struck out five over a pair of one-hit frames. Levi Prouty also tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
Pacheco drove in another three runs on Wednesday, being just a triple short of the cycle. His two-run home run to left field made it a 4-0 game in the third inning.
After a rough outing last week against Enochs, Turlock’s Braydon Keyler bounced back with four strong innings Friday, allowing just one run on three walks and a base hit. He also struck out five. Offensively, Keyler helped his own cause with two runs driven in on two hits. He received explosive support from Henard, who blasted a towering three-run home run down the left field at de la Motte Field to extend Turlock's lead to 9-0 in the fourth inning.
Also delivering a long ball this week was Pitman’s Ben Vilhauer, whose solo shot gave the Pride a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Monday’s opener with Gregori. The Jaguars tied the game in the second before the Pride exploded for 11 runs in the third. Jackson Way was in the middle of the action four runs driven in on three hits. Austin Bernard drove in another three runs on three hits, while Vilhauer, Andres Trujillo and Jesse Gutierrez each had two RBI on the afternoon. Vilhauer also was the winning pitcher, going six innings. He struck out nine and gave up four runs on six hits and four walks.
Pitman had no problem getting on base over the next two days.
On Wednesday, 12 base runners were stranded, including seven in scoring position in the 4-2 loss. The lone runs came on a bases-loaded fielder’s choice from Elias Mendez and a passed ball that scored Cole Kelley. On the mound, Kelley gave up three earned runs over 6.2 innings, two on a home run off the bat of Sebastian Joseph in the third inning.
The Pride led briefly Friday, sparked by Nolan Walker. Walker led the game off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The lead extended to 2-0 on a Gutierrez RBI single. From there, it was a Gregori avalanche, with Walker giving up seven runs on five hits and two walks before being pulled with two outs in the opening inning. The Pride roared back in the fifth inning, scoring six runs to tie the game at 8-8. Julian Jacinto brought in two on a line drive single to right field before Walker tripled in a pair to cut the deficit to one. Way then tied things up on a sacrifice fly.
The Jags weren’t fazed, though, tagging Mendez for four runs on three hits and three walks in the home half of the inning to help clinch the series victory and put the pressure on the Pride heading into the last week of the regular season.
The Bulldogs are now 18-6 and the Pride 17-7 overall on the season.
