Valencia High baseball took down Canyon High 16-1 on Friday afternoon at Valencia.
The Vikings’ Lukas White finished the day with a home run and a single for five RBIs and pitched five innings, giving up one run.
“Some guys are able to do it two ways and some guys are just pitchers, and he’s able to do both,” said Valencia coach Mike Killinger.
The Vikings (19-6 overall, 9-2 in Foothill League) got on the board in the second inning off a sacrifice fly by Chris Mueller, then added four more runs in the second inning, highlighted by White’s three-run home run.
“I knew it was gone when I (ran past) the dugout,” White said. “So it felt good.”
Canyon’s Harold Boyce hit an RBI double in the top of the fourth inning for the team’s only run of the day.
Although the young Cowboys (2-22, 1-10) struggled to generate offense, Valencia noticed a difference in their play since the first time the two teams met earlier this year.
“They definitely improved since the first time we played them, a lot of young guys, and they got a lot of experience this year, so we think they’re going to come after us next year,” Killinger said.
The Vikings exploded in the fourth inning, scoring nine runs. Mueller had a two-run double and White had a two-run single in the frame.
“It was a curveball and I just saw it well and we’ve been working hard this week on driving the other way,” Mueller said of his hit. “It was inside so I just turned on it and hit it good.”
Rotating in a fresh crop of batters, which included pitcher Austin Oliver, Valencia closed out its sixth and final inning with two runs.
“We’re a really strong momentum team so when we get a lot of momentum, we just keep going and when one guy does something everyone else just feeds off of it,” said Mueller.
With the win, the Vikings completed a season sweep against the Cowboys, shutting them out twice.
