By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Bulldogs place fourth
Placeholder Image
Ray Perea wasn't dominant but was effective.

Too bad the sophomore pitcher, who scattered seven hits and had four strikeouts, didn't get any help from his teammates.

The Ceres High Legion baseball team struck out five times and made two errors in losing 3-0 to Los Banos at the fourth annual Salas Brothers Summer Classic at Downey High School on Saturday.

"They made a couple of mistakes and we capitalized on those," said Los Banos coach David Zuniga. "That's the difference between winning and losing."

Ceres (9-5) placed fourth in a field of 10 with a 2-2 record at the tournament. Manteca won the title, host Downey took second and Davis finished third.

"I'm happy right now," said Ceres coach Tim Williams. "This is one of the better summers that we have had in a while."

The Tigers played solid defense behind junior pitcher Greg Castaneda, who managed to carry a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

"He did an outstanding job," Zuniga said. "He hit his spots and his defense helped him."

Los Banos junior shortstop Ray Barantes took away two hits in the first two innings with two beautiful diving stops and throws to first base. He also helped turn a double play.

"He had a terrific game today," Zuniga said. "Not only did he knock in a run, he may have saved a couple."

Ceres grounded into double plays in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings.

"We had our opportunities to score runs but we just didn't," Williams said.

Los Banos scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Ernie Lugo hit a slow grounder to third and reached first and advanced to second on Conrad Valor's throwing error. He scored on Barantes' RBI double to the left field fence. Jacob Brazil drove in Barantes with a bloop single to right field.

The Tigers scored their final run in the fifth inning.

Brian Arista reached first and moved to second on Valor's second error. Arista advanced to third on Tyler Luna's sacrifice bunt and scored on Brandon Windecker's infield single.- By DALE BUTLER

Staff Reporter of The Ceres (Calif.) Courier