Valencia baseball showed the strength of its batting lineup on Wednesday afternoon in a 6-1 win over Canyon. Eight different Vikings recorded a hit in the home victory.
“Everyone has been hitting the ball pretty well,” said Lukas White, who was 3-for-3 at the plate with three singles and two RBIs.
“(I) just try hitting some line drives and I felt good with the guys before me and after me. They had good at-bats and gave me opportunities to come through for the team.”
White’s first single came in the first inning to give Valencia (9-11 overall, 5-3 in Foothill League) an early 1-0 lead. Kyle Barileau followed up in the second frame with an RBI double.
Aydyn Litz hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning for the only Cowboy run of the game.
“It was a big game,” said Canyon coach Drew Peterson. “We looked at it as a must-win and I just thought the energy wasn’t there today. We needed to come out with more energy.”
Valencia locked the game up in the fifth inning with a string of hits that resulted in three runs. Nick Tanis capped the scoring spree with an RBI single to make it 6-1.
“Their guy might have gotten a little tired, but we were just trying to square some balls up and luckily find the holes that we needed,” Valencia coach Mike Killinger said.
Canyon (11-9, 3-5) pitcher Steven Cornell recorded seven strikeouts in six innings. Improved pitching has been just a part of the Cowboys’ rebuilding process after only winning one Foothill League game last season.
“They’ve got a couple guys in their lineup that hit the ball hard,” White said. “They have good at-bats and they’ve gotten a lot better since last year. They’re a better team.”
The two teams will meet again on Friday at 3:30 at Canyon.
