West loses game, key player

TRACY -- This wasn't quite the performance the West High baseball team needed heading into the most important week of its season.

The Wolf Pack trailed early and never put up much of a fight against Tokay on Friday, losing its first Tri-City Athletic League game of the season 9-3. West also lost one of its key players for Wednesday's game against first-place St. Mary's.

West (17-8, 7-1 TCAL) must win at least one of two against the unbeaten Rams next week to secure one of the league's two playoff spots. If the Wolf Pack loses twice and Tokay (18-7, 5-3) wins out, the Tigers would get the second spot via a runs-against tiebreaker.

If West beats St. Mary's twice, though, it will win the league championship.

But things will be even tougher for West with the loss of starting shortstop and relief pitcher Riley Goulding, who must sit out the next game after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes just after the game's final out.

"That's a big loss," West coach Jim Rice said. "We were all a little frustrated with the consistency of the umpire, but you can't let the umpire predict your play."

Not much went right for West. Starting pitcher Matt Fontaine allowed five earned runs over five innings -- and the Wolf Pack managed just one hit during that stretch.

After Tokay piled on with four in the sixth, West finally got some runners on base and pushed three runs across. But it was far too late.

"Matt didn't have his best stuff today, but we didn't do a very good job offensively," Rice said. "We had runners in scoring position a couple of times but couldn't get them in."

It was a welcome change for Tokay, which had been struggling lately and would have been eliminated from playoff contention with a loss.

"All around we've looked poor the last three games," Tokay coach Aaron Misasi said. "It was good to get back to playing good baseball."

Sierra 15, Central Valley 10

MANTECA -- The Timberwolves (15-9, 7-5 Valley Oak League) picked a good time to break out of their slump.

Sierra, which has dropped five of its past six games, gave up six runs in the first inning and faced a 9-0 deficit against the Hawks (5-7) in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Timberwolves scored twice in the fourth, then added five in the fifth to make it 9-7, and exploded for eight in the sixth to take a 15-9 lead.

It was a big win for the Timberwolves, who are in a tight battle for the second and third playoff spots in the VOL with rivals East Union and Manteca. Sierra and East Union play next week on Wednesday and Friday to close out the regular season.

Jon Nunes went 5-for-5 with a home run for the Timberwolves, while Andrew Gabriel, Michael Garcia and Hank Perusse each had two hits.

Oakdale 8, Manteca 3

MANTECA -- The Buffaloes (13-11-1, 7-5 VOL) gave up three runs in the first, then hung with the Mustangs (19-3-3, 11-1) until a five- run seventh blew it open.

Tim Larson went 2-for-3 for Manteca, while Kevin Allen drove in a pair of runs. The Buffaloes wrap up their season against last-place Weston Ranch next week.

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