The West Ranch baseball bleachers were packed for Thursday’s non-league game with the Camarillo Scorpions. However, a large percentage of the spectators weren’t supporting one team — they were radar-gun-wielding scouts out to watch the big left-handed Scorpion pitcher Boston Bateman.
Bateman shined in the game and threw a no-hitter through his five innings of work on the mound. Some control issues led to a handful of walks but the pitcher still got the best of West Ranch in the 10-0 win.
The final score indicates a blowout but West Ranch (3-1-1) trailed 2-0 heading into the sixth inning.
Several walks, defensive mishaps and big hits by the Scorpions (3-2) blew the game open and handed the Wildcats their first loss of the season.
Bateman, an LSU commit, was one of four Scorpions with two doubles on the day, while fanning five on the mound.
“We knew that their pitcher was going to be pretty dominant and that there’s all sorts of draft hype around him,” said Cats coach Ryan Lindgreen. “We were prepared to handle all that and I thought that we competed on the plate, but the guy just happened to be really talented. We couldn’t get ourselves a big hit when we got some runners on base and runners in scoring positions. Maybe if we get the big hits there, we can turn the tide on them.”
Wildcats junior Hunter Manning got the better of Bateman with a strikeout in their first matchup, but Bateman fired an RBI double in the third to go up 2-0.
West Ranch wasn’t fazed by all the scouts as the team boasts several Division 1 commits of its own. Senior Aiden Buntich remains uncommitted but saved the Wildcats as he broke up Camarillo’s no-hitter with an infield single in the sixth inning.
The Wildcats received a quality outing from senior submarine pitcher Ricky Sturm. The reliever entered the game with a tall task of erasing a one-out, bases-loaded jam.
Sturm didn’t miss much and retired a pair of Scorpion batters to keep the score at 2-0.
“Ricky is a senior, and is everything you want out of a senior varsity player,” Lindgreen said. “He will do anything at any time. He’s ready to go compete and he gets in there and pounds the strike zone. He gives us a chance to compete because he sets the tempo whenever he’s in the game. So we’re really excited for the year that Ricky has already created for himself and what he can do in the future.”
The reliever allowed just one hit in his two innings on the mound.
West Ranch couldn’t get any runners past second and stranded five on the bases on the day.
With all the scouts out watching Bateman throw in the low 90-mph range, Lindgreen was pleased with his team handling the hype.
“I think whenever there’s that type buzz around a game, everybody’s on notice,” Lindgreen said. “We were composed and I thought that we had a good plan to try to go compete. Unfortunately, our defense just kind of picked a bad time to have its worst game of the year so far. I think that if we would have cleaned up our defense, that game would have been really tight at the end and a lot of fun. But our guys handled all the distractions pretty well.”
West Ranch will look to clean up the defense on Saturday when the team returns home to host the Oaks Christian Lions, who are hot off a win over Valencia.
The Wildcats have about two weeks of non-league before beginning Foothill League play against the CIF champion Castaic Coyotes. Castaic has shot onto the scene in the last few years but West Ranch remains the last league team the Coyotes are yet to beat.
