Central Valley’s baseball program enjoyed its best year to date this spring.
The Hawks earned their first home playoff win and third postseason victory on the same day.
Central Valley claimed its second straight Western Athletic Conference title in undefeated fashion.
The Hawks also tied their single-season record for wins in a season.
“It just shows all the hard work we’ve been putting in is paying off,” Central Valley head coach Brad Bussard said. “We take a lot of pride in having one of the best programs in our area.”
The eighth-seeded Hawks edged the ninth-seeded Lincoln Trojans 3-2 in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-I playoffs on May 6 in Ceres.
“It was a really good game,” Bussard said.
Central Valley’s Tyson Hunt improved his pitching record to 7-2 with a 0.78 earned-run average.
He allowed one earned run and eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in seven innings.
“Tyson wanted to win the game more than anything,” Bussard said. “He gave us a chance. He was a competitor.”
The Hawks piled up eight hits versus the Trojans.
Hunt singled.
Adrian Vega batted 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Ezequiel Verduzo batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
Mason Whitworth batted 2-for-4 with one double and one run.
Isaias Valdovinos batted 0-for-2 with one run.
Carter Hernandez and Noah Maldonado both batted 1-for-2.
Central Valley tallied all three of its runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Whitworth singled, moved to second when Valdovinos got hit by a pitch and scored on Verduzco’s single to even the score at 1-1.
The Hawks increased their lead to 3-1 when Vega plated Valdovinos and Verduzco with a two-out single.
“It was a great response by our team after they scored,” Bussard said.
Top-seeded St. Mary’s eliminated Central Valley from the playoffs with a 10-0 win in the quarterfinals on May 8 in Stockton.
“We played the best team in Northern California,” Bussard said. “St. Mary’s is the standard we want to eventually get to.”
Central Valley mustered just one hit off St. Mary’s pitcher Dax Hardcastle, who totaled 11 strikeouts and just one walk in five innings.
Valdovinos singled.
“Our mindset was to compete,” Bussard said. “We didn’t play our best game of the year. Our results showed. Their pitcher is legit. He’s an SEC (Southeastern Conference) commit. He’s going to Mississippi State.”
Central Valley compiled a 21-9 overall record this season.
The Hawks won all 14 of their conference games for the second year in a row.
“This is the most successful season we’ve had in school history,” Bussard said. We returned a lot of guys from the previous year’s team. We had experience. We had a deep lineup.”
Central Valley will lose seven players to graduation, including Hernandez, Valdovinos, Whitworth, Fernando Dominguez, Isaac Lopez, Caden Mendonca and Samuel Rubio.
“I’m proud of them,” Bussard said. “They’ve laid the foundation for the future. It’s definitely going to hurt losing our seniors. We’re going to miss those guys.”
