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Two Early Season Games In Win Column For Cougars
On The Diamond
Baseball pix
The umpire makes the safe call for the Downey runner at second base, as the Cougar player shows the ball in his glove after putting down the quick swipe tag in Friday afternoon action. Escalon did come away with a 6-2 win. Marg Jackson/The Times

Though a scrimmage with Manteca was washed out, Escalon’s varsity baseball team got on the diamond for a pair of non-league games this past week.

They hosted Downey on Friday, Feb. 24 and earned a 6-2 win.

“We broke a 0-0 tie in the fourth,” said head coach Greg Largent.

Parker Cosby doubled and went to third on a Lucca Dutra single. Justice Naraghi then ripped a 2-RBI single to give Escalon the lead.

Two more runs in the fourth made it 4-0 before Downey scratched a run across the plate in the sixth.

Escalon, however, answered back with a pair of their own in the bottom of the frame. Colton Lowney had an RBI double and Dutra an RBI single in that inning. Downey added one more in the top of the seventh but couldn’t get any closer.

“Nick Warren went six innings, allowed three hits, struck out five and walked three,” Largent said of his starter.

Lowney pitched the seventh inning, giving up one earned run on two hits.

“Nash Satnat made a great catch in the seventh, he had just been inserted in left field and there was one hit deep into the left field corner, he went headlong into the corner and came up with it,” noted Largent.

The Cougars collected eight hits, with a 3-for-4 day and two RBI from Naraghi, while Dutra went 2-for-3 with a run batted in.

Saturday hosting Calaveras, it was a shutout victory, 7-0, for the Cougars.

Naraghi got the start on the mound and went six strong innings, striking out six and allowing just two hits. Steven Grossi came on to pitch a strong seventh.

Big inning for the Cougars was the second, when they pushed four runs across the plate and got RBIs from Dutra and Lowney. Satnat had an RBI single in the seventh, Cosby also had an RBI for the home team.

“We had seven hits, scored seven runs and played errorless ball on the day,” Largent said.

The Cougars have been waiting for a solid stretch of sunny weather so they can get in consistent practices, as opposed to playing whiffle ball in the gym. The forecast looks promising for this week, and the varsity squad is scheduled to host Sierra today, Wednesday, March 1 and then travel to Patterson for a Friday, March 3 contest.

The squad includes four seniors, eight juniors and three sophomores, with 15 on the roster to start the season.

 

JUNIOR VARSITY

The JV boys split their first two games of the campaign, taking a 4-3 win against Downey in Friday’s game, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. They were back on the diamond Saturday but were roughed up, 14-6, by the visitors in that game. They are also home to host Sierra on March 1 and travel to face the Tigers in Patterson on March 3. Ken Baptista returns as head coach for the JV boys again this season.