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Hawks end McRae tournament on positive note
Central Valley edges Riverbank
gmartinez.tiff
Central Valleys Gaige Martinez delivers a pitch against Central Catholic in the opening round of the Art McRae Tournament.

Central Valley High School's varsity baseball program co-hosted the Art McRae Tournament this past week.

The Hawks posted a 1-2 record at the 10-team event.

"We knew we were playing a tough schedule," Central Valley head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. "We want to play the more competitive teams. That will benefit us down the road."

The Hawks ended the McRae event on a positive note, beating Riverbank 8-7 on Thursday.

"It was nice to play better in our last game of the tournament," Goblirsch said.

Central Valley accumulated 10 hits.

Andrew Brekke batted 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Ben Ortiz batted 2-for-4 with one double, one RBI and one run.

Jorge Alvarez batted 1-for-2 with one double, one RBI and two runs.

Andrew Sen batted 1-for-2 with two runs.

Johnny Pittman batted 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run.

Robert Nieto batted 1-for-4 with one run.

Israel Anaya scored once.

Mikie Lopez singled.

Gaige Martinez earned the win while contributing as a relief pitcher.

Gaige had two strikeouts and no walks in two scoreless innings.

Central Valley lost 15-1 to Yerington on Wednesday.

Sen batted 1-for-2 with one RBI.

Alex Centeno accounted for the Hawks' lone run.

Lopez, Central Valley's starter on the mound, gave up nine runs (seven earned) and nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks in three innings.

Central Catholic pounded Central Valley 11-1 on April 6.

Brekke batted 1-for-2 with one RBI.

Alvarez batted 1-for-2 with one double and one run.

Gabriel Quezada singled.

Martinez allowed nine runs and 11 hits with three strikeouts and four walks in four innings. "We didn't play well the first two games," Goblirsch said while assessing his team's overall performance. "We had some errors and that led to some big innings. We finally got our bats going against Riverbank. Hopefully, that gives us some momentum going into these last four weeks."

Central Valley (6-12, 0-4) will face Western Athletic Conference-rival El Capitan (4-2) twice this week.

The Hawks will host the Gauchos today and travel to Merced on Friday.

Both games will begin at 4 p.m.