Central Valley’s varsity baseball team concluded the 2019 season this past week.

The seventh-place Hawks dropped a pair of Central California Conference games to the first-place Buhach Colony Thunder.

“They’re one of the better teams in league,” Central Valley infielder/pitcher Alex Solis said.

The Hawks compiled an 11-16 overall record and won two of 12 games in the CCC.

The Thunder improved to 20-5 and 9-1.

Central Valley finished 7-18-1 and last in the Western Athletic Conference standings (1-9) in 2018.

“I thought we performed well considering how young we were,” Hawks’ head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. “We had six underclassmen that started most of the time for us. I’m excited about the future. We just want to continue to get better. This group is capable of it (turning the program around). It’s just a matter if they buy in and put in the work.”

“I’m going to miss playing with this year’s group of guys,” Solis added. “We were all really close and had a good bond. Everybody put the team first.”

The Hawks lost 9-5 to the Thunder on Senior Day on April 30.

Upperclassmen Solis, Angel Porras, Joseph Mendez, Carlos Gutierrez, Ryan Palecek, Leo Lujan and Derek Bolivar competed at home for the final time.

“It was definitely special,” Solis said. “It’s sad we won’t be playing together again. I’ll think about the good times and memories.”

Solis allowed four earned runs and nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks while making his final start at pitcher for Central Valley.

He batted 1-for-3 from the plate with one run.

Porras batted 2-for-3 with two doubles and one RBI.

Mendez batted 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run.

Gutierrez batted 1-for-2 with one run.

Palecek batted 1-for-3 with one RBI.

Lujan scored once.

Sergio Solis, Alex’s younger brother, batted 1-for-3 with two RBIs and one run.

Both teams erased deficits during the game.

Down 3-0, Central Valley scored one run in both the second and third innings, and three in the fourth to grab a 5-3 lead.

The Hawks were outscored 6-0 the rest of the way.

“It’s one of the better games we’ve played this season,” Alex Solis said.

Central Valley lost 10-0 in five innings at Buhach Colony on May 2.

Angel Vega accounted for the Hawks’ lone hit.

“We couldn’t make anything happen, offensively,” Alex Solis said.

Central Valley struggled during its first season in the CCC.

“Our record isn’t what we wanted,” Goblirsch said. “But the level of competition was a step up. Our effort was great.”

“The biggest difference I noticed was a lot of teams do small things right,” Alex Solis added while comparing the CCC to the WAC. “It would have been nice to win more games. We did improve.”