Pride freshman Matt Carrigg pitched five shutout innings, allowed only two hits, walked one and struck out three of 18 batters faced, en route to a wild 6-5 victory over Merced on Friday.

“I felt pretty good, just stayed cool… kept my cool and not get cocky and do what I do,” Carrigg said. “I felt confident, I was a little nervous but I felt confident.”

Carrigg also provided clutch offense as he drove in what would be the game winning run in the top of the 11th inning, getting the sacrifice hit and brining in Brent Gonsalves from second.

After allowing four runs in a rugged fourth inning, the Pride found themselves down 3-4 to Merced.

In the next half of the inning, Trevor Chaney hit an RBI sacrifice fly, driving in Brennan Hauser from third and tying the ball game.

With one out and a runner on second, Alex Sneziek hit an RBI double on a 1-2 pitch in the top of the sixth to take the 5-4 lead.

The Merced Bears tallied only three hits in the ball game while scoring five runs due to an inconsistency in the fourth inning as Trevor Chaney and Derek Finney allowed six runners on base by hitting three and walking three.

“At first we struggled,” Pitman’s head coach John Acha said. “You know, these guys are showing their resiliency. [They] had a tough loss to Atwater before spring break and since then [the] guys have been battling.”

With the win, the Pride (5-3) trail only the first place Turlock Bulldogs (17-1 overall, 8-0).

Pitman High defeated visiting Merced High 3-2 on Wednesday in a game that started quick but ended sluggishly.

The Bears from Merced scored two quick runs in the first inning off ace Jordan Gonzalez to take the 2-0 lead.

“Sometimes he comes out and gets in to some trouble,” Acha said of Gonzalez. “But [he] usually gets settled in and was not rattled at all; since he only gave up one run.”

The Pride soon rallied and responded by scoring two quick runs to tie it by the end of the first.

Gonzalez pitched a complete game, giving up only one hit and one earned run in the process, while allowing six walks and striking out eight.

 “Merced, Buhach are the teams we are competing against to get into the playoffs,” Acha said. “Buhach had us on a close one, but we just need to take it one game at a time.”