Turlock Christian entered the annual Mark Dickens Invitational Tournament with a perfect 11-0 record, but departed with their first two losses of the season — a 4-1, tough-luck loss to Turlock High and a 6-0 loss to Wheatland that was a scoreless duel for the first four innings.
All that is bad news for the rest of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division VII teams, because the reigning D-VII champs proved they can play with the big boys as they gear up to defend their title.
“I got some insight into our depth this week and a little bit about our grit,” said TC coach Bill York. “Baseball season is a grind and I’ve always looked at these tournaments as precursor to what the playoffs would look like — playing multiple games, having to have a deep pitching rotation and some ammunition off the bench. We got a lot of insight into that. It was very positive.”
Freshman Joe Farinha took the mound for the Eagles — one day after his brother, senior Gavin Farinha, was dealt the first loss of his high school career — and pitched effectively for five innings, yielding two hits, two walks and two earned runs while fanning six.
“There’s more to learn to when we play higher-level teams,” said Joe Farinha. “We’ve got a good team, we’ve just got to work on some things.”
He was relieved by Xavier Ruezga, who surrendered four runs —the big blow being a three-run bomb by 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior Jacob Aust — as the Pirates took control.
“He fell behind 2-0 and I figured he had to come over with a strike,” said Aust. “I got what I was looking for.”
Offensively for Turlock Christian (12-2), junior Caden Alldren was 3-for-3 with a double, while senior Rob York was 2-for-3. Sophomore Andrew Fisher had the Eagles’ other hit, a single in a pinch-hitting appearance.
“We have some work to do still, but we’ve got a good team,” said Rob York, who threw a five-inning no-hitter March 15 at Edison (Stockton), striking out 11 and walking none. “Winning league is our first goal and then … just try to go far in the playoffs.”
Turlock Christian resumes Central California Athletic Alliance play on Tuesday when they host Millennium at Pedretti Park at 7 p.m. Game 2 of the home-and-home series is Thursday in Tracy at 4 p.m.
