Cooper Gaoiran led the offense with four hits and Matt McQuillen pitched six strong innings as the El Capitan High baseball team opened a big three-game series with Atwater with an 8-6 win on Monday afternoon at Memorial Ballpark. 

 

Both teams came in undefeated in Central California Conference play at 3-0 after the first week so the Gauchos and Falcons know the importance of this series. (Atwater) is a good ball club and we need to make sure we’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” said El Capitan coach Aaron Ruiz, whose team improved to 7-3 overall and 4-0 in the CCC. “The first one is always the biggest so it was really nice to get this one, but every game with these guys is going to be a battle.”

Gaoiran started switch-hitting when he was a freshman and displayed his skills from both sides of the plate on Monday, going 4 for 4 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs to go with three stolen bases. Gaoiran is a natural right-handed hitter and says it took two years for him to really feel comfortable hitting from the left side. “My sophomore year wasn’t the best so I really had to work that offseason, because there was some missing parts in there, and now it feels natural. It’s tough and I wanted to quit so many times but my dad was there and kept telling me to stick with it.”

 

Gaoiran collected three hits from the right side and then was right in the middle of the Gauchos’ six-run, sixth inning when he doubled in two runs from the left side. El Capitan scratched out six hits, including a two-run single from Benny Centeno that helped the Gauchos extend their lead to 8-0.

McQuillen picked up his second CCC win, stifling a Falcons team that scored 38 runs in a three-game sweep of Buhach Colony last week. The senior right-hander struck out six and pitched around four walks and three hits to surrender just the one run. “He's a competitor on the mound,” Ruiz said. “He takes it personally, and he makes sure that he gives his team a chance at all times. It's kind of funny, and it's weird to say, but he was kind of wildly effective early. He got into a lot of deep counts, but made good pitches when he needed to make them.”

 

The Falcons (8-3-1, 3-1 CCC) threatened to pull off a stunning comeback in the seventh inning, rallying for five runs. Mathias Cole delivered a two-run single during the rally that saw the Falcons get the tying run in scoring position before El Capitan’s sophomore left-hander Brennon Casey struck out the final hitter to end the threat. 

“You watched that last inning, they're not giving up and they're staying in every inning, staying in every at bat,” Ruiz said. “You know it's gonna be a dog fight when you come here.That's baseball, you have to keep applying pressure and not wasting at bats and not coasting. You have to play all seven innings. If you lighten up, like today, we sort of took an inning off, and they made us pay for it.”

 

The two teams will be back in action on Wednesday at El Capitan at 4 p.m. and then again on Friday night at Memorial at 7.

Buhach Colony 8, Golden Valley 6 – The Cougars loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh inning before the Thunder closed the door with a double play and strikeout to pick up their first CCC win. Ethan Quintana and Bennett Stoddard led BC’s 10-hit attack with two hits each. Julian Llamas pitched into the fifth inning to pick up the win and Jacob Medina picked up the save.

 

Los Banos 14, Merced 11 – The Tigers erased a three-run deficit with a five-run sixth inning and then tacked on five more runs in the seventh to defeat the Bears on Monday. Merced racked up 12 hits with Dylan Speidel collecting two hits to go with four runs scored and 2 RBIs. Angel Molina, Ty Nannini, Noah Casey and Bryce Jimenez all had two hits for Merced.

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.