The Modesto Babe Ruth baseball team dominated the Roosevelt squad in a five inning mercy-rule victory, 18-3, in Friday’s first round of the Pacific Southwest Regional  Tournament.

“It was a great first start for the tournament. It was good to get out after having a few days off; it was great getting runs early and we played good defense to protect our pitchers,” Modesto’s head coach Bobby Swedberg said.

Modesto was able to produce 17 hits for the game as a team and walked six times. In the past five wins, they have outscored opponents 76-9.

Starting the game was Pitman High graduate Jordan Gonzalez, who pitched two innings, allowed only two runs on six walks with four strikeouts.  Offensively, he went 1-for-2 for the day with a run scored.

“Jordan did a good job in the first two innings keeping them off the board besides the two runs; and the bullpen and hitting was fantastic,” Swedberg said. “The key contributions came from everyone on the bats and fielding, especially our pitching.”

Mike Perez came in to relieve Gonzalez in the start of the third inning and threw the final three innings, allowing only one run.

The first two runs for the Modesto team came in the first inning after capitalizing on errors from Roosevelt. Modesto gained momentum and scored another four in the second to extend the lead to 6-0. It was 11-3 at the top of the fifth before Modesto scored six runs to make it 18-3.

Roosevelt scored their three runs after a pair of walks; one in the second after loading the bases on walks and the second and third came in the following innings.

“They were little overmatched I think and we can’t expect it every day, we need to continue to play hard each and every game and if we do that then we should be in good shape,” Swedberg said.

Turlock High graduate Tyler Murphy was 1-for-4 with a run scored, a double and 2 RBIs. Austin Thomas, a 2012 Turlock graduate, was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI. Brennan Hauser, who just graduated from Pitman High, was 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI and walk.

The next game for the Modesto Babe Ruth baseball team is Sunday at 4 p.m. against Vallejo at the Riverton Sports Complex in Riverton, Utah.