HUGHSON — Hughson High’s baseball team breezed to a 9-0 victory over Venture Academy (Stockton), setting up a best-of-three series with Wheatland in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 semifinals.

The second-seeded Huskies (25-5) will host Game 1 on Monday at 4 p.m., then travel to Wheatland for Game 2 on Wednesday. A third game, if necessary, would be played Friday back in Hughson.

The Pirates (17-8-1), seeded No. 3, defeated Hilmar 6-2 to advance to the semifinal round.

The winner of Wheatland-Hughson will take on the winner of No. 4 Woodland (23-8) vs. No. 1 Lincoln (21-8).

Against Venture Academy, senior pitcher Max Mankins went the distance, striking out 10 and yielding just two hits and a walk, while throwing an economical 70 pitches.

The Huskies have now gone 15 consecutive innings without allowing a run, dating back to the final three innings in their regular-season-closing 5-2 win over Tokay (Lodi). That win came on the heels of an embarrassing 13-3 loss to Oakdale — a loss that refocused the team.

“We really had a shift in the way that our practices had been running, after the tournament,” said Mankins. “I feel like it’s been very beneficial for us. We’re being more strict in things that we do. Little small mistakes that you don’t normally get upset about, we have to pay attention to. We’re trying to be really, really clean with everything that we do.”

Offensively, Bryce McDaniel — who earned the victory in the Huskies’ 15-0 win over Ben Holt College Prep Academy in Tuesday’s playoff opener — went 4-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs scored, and one run batted in. Senior Andrew Fisher was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs, while senior Beau Blake was 1-for-3 with two steals, two runs scored, and one driven in.

Mankins, Isaac Lupercio (2B), Carlos Guizar, Benji Ocegueda, Dominic Aguiar (2B, 2 RBIs), and Lawson Aviles all collected hits for the Huskies.