Merced Union High School District

A strained hamstring had sidelined Atwater High senior Juilan Madriz for the past couple weeks so the right-hander couldn’t wait to get back on the mound on Tuesday night. Madriz pitched into the sixth inning, surrendering just two hits and no runs as the Falcons went on to defeat Patterson 5-1 to improve to 2-0 in the 65th Fran Oneto Atwater-Winton Lions Easter Baseball Tournament at Memorial Ballpark.

 

Madriz struck out eight as he shined during his 5 and ⅔ innings of work against the Tigers. “It felt good,” Madriz said. “Honestly, it was electric out there. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for three weeks.”

 

Madriz injured his hamstring in a game against El Capitan on March 23rd. The injury sidelined him the next four games. Atwater coach Jarrod Pimentel says it was a boost to get one of their top starters back on the mound. “It means a lot,” Pimentel said. “He’s been waiting to come back the last 10 days but he hasn’t been right. We told him he can come back and pitch tonight but we’re going to DH for him.”

 

The Falcons (12-4-1) opened the tournament with a 7-1 victory over Hayward. Junior Hudson Pimentel sparked the Atwater offense with a double, home run and four RBIs. Mathias Cole also had two hits and pitched six strong innings to pick up the win. The right-hander struck out seven and gave up just four hits. “We’re pitching well,” Jarrod Pimentel said. “That’s what I’m happy about.”

 

The Falcons jumped out to a 6-0 lead over Hayward after the first four innings. Tuesday night’s game against Patterson was a battle early with Atwater able to score the first run of the game in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Cole to score Isaiah Navarro.

Navarro was in the middle of every Falcons’ rally against the Tigers, collecting three hits, two runs and two RBIs from the bottom of the lineup. Navarro singled and eventually scored the Falcons’ second run on another sacrifice bly by Cole in the fifth inning. Hudson Pimentel followed with an RBI-double to extend the lead to 3-0.

 

The Falcons then loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth inning and Navarro delivered a two-run double to give Atwater a 5-0 lead. “He works his butt off,” Jarrod Pimentel said. “He was kind of in a slump for a little bit. We ran with him again tonight and he really stepped up. He had three nice hits tonight, played good defense and I was really happy he had a good night tonight. We had multiple people contributing on this team and that’s what makes a really good team.”

 

The 2-0 start puts the Falcons in position to earn a spot in Thursday’s tournament championship game. Atwater will play in the championship with a victory tonight over Ripon. The Falcons can still reach the title game with a loss if the tournament tie-breakers go their way. 

 

The Easter tournament is always one of the highlights of the year for the Atwater baseball team and Madriz says it would be exciting to play in the championship game in front of a big crowd on Thursday night. “It would mean everything,” he said. “We have a group of hard-working players and that’s what we’re going for and hopefully we can take it.”

Edison 6, Golden Valley 2 – The Tigers turned four walks and two singles into a four-run second inning as they knocked off the Cougars. Izaak Navarrete had two hits and three RBIs for Edison. Tarun Thiara went 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI for Golden Valley, which plays Livingston at 1 p.m. today.

 

Monday

Gregori 4, Golden Valley 2 – Gabe Richards and David Saldana drove in runs during the Cougars’ two-run third inning. Richards finished 2 for 2 and also scored a run. Brayden Euker pitched six innings and surrendered just one hit. 

 

Gregori 11, Livingston 0 – The Jaguars racked up 14 hits with Dustin McLain and Chase Hardin both driving in two runs against the Wolves. Deegan Beland struck out 10 and gave up just one hit in five scoreless innings for Gregori. Freshman Antonio Sanchez went 1 for 2 for the Wolves. 

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