The members of Ceres High School's varsity baseball program didn't seem terribly disappointed following their 8-4 loss to Brookside Christian in the championship game of the Art McRae Ceres Lions Club Tournament on Thursday in Ceres.
"Of course we wanted to win," Bulldogs third baseman/pitcher Drew Stahl said. "But we were more focused on having fun and working together."
Ceres High (15-5, 5-1 Western Athletic Conference) won three of four games en route to a runner-up finish at its home tournament.
The Bulldogs battled back from a 5-2 deficit before losing to Brookside Christian in the finals.
Down 5-4, Ceres High surrendered three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Bulldogs committed six errors during the course of the game.
"We tried our best," Stahl said.
Stahl and Izaiah Hernandez collected one RBI each.
Brett Conway batted 2-for-3 from the plate with one RBI.
Haaydn Martinez batted 1-for-2 with one RBI.
Caleb McDade batted 1-for-3 with one double and one run.
Brad Bussard and Ricky Lopez both batted 1-for-3 with one run.
Brent Bussard scored once.
Merrick Price singled.
Price was the losing pitcher.
Merrick surrendered five runs (four earned) and six hits with one strikeout and one walk.
Ceres High's third victory came against Yerington as it prevailed 14-3 on Thursday.
Martinez was the winning pitcher.
Haaydn yielded three runs and four hits with three strikeouts and three walks in four innings.
Martinez also singled and scored once.
Lopez batted 2-for-3 with one double, four RBIs and one run.
Kyle Mooney batted 3-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs.
Brent Bussard batted 1-for-2 with one RBI and two runs.
Price and Jacob Martinez each batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
Stahl batted 1-for-1 with three runs.
Jacob Martinez batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
Ismael Ontiveros batted 1-for-3 with one run.
Ceres High built a 7-1 lead and held on for a 7-4 victory over tradition-rich Central Catholic on Wednesday.
Stahl went the distance on the mound.
Drew tallied nine strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.
He allowed four runs and scattered seven hits.
The Bulldogs collected 10 hits on offense.
Brett Conway batted 1-for-3 with one double and three RBIs.
Brent Bussard batted 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Ontiveros batted 2-for-3 with one RBI and two runs.
McDade batted 2-for-2 with two runs.
Brad Bussard batted 2-for-4 with two runs.
Haaydn Martinez batted 1-for-3 with one run.
Ceres High edged Orestimba 3-2 in the opening round on Monday.
The Bulldogs erased two deficits.
Ontiveros allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits with no strikeouts and two walks in 52/3 innings of work.
Price collected the save in relief of Ontiveros. Merrick gave up two hits and struck three in 11/3 innings.
Stahl batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
Hernandez batted 1-for-1 with one RBI.
McDade and Brad Bussard both batted 1-for-3 with one run.
Ontiveros batted 1-for-3.
Ceres High will continue the WAC portion of its schedule with home-and-away games against Livingston next week.
The Bulldogs will host the Wolves on April 22.
Ceres High will travel to Livingston on April 24.
Both games will get underway at 4 p.m.
The Bulldogs, 11-1 in league play a year ago, are vying for their second straight WAC crown.
"The way we're playing right now, I think we can do it," Stahl said. "But we can't get over confident. We just have to play our game."
