The Foothill League baseball title is nearly West Ranch’s for the taking, while Castaic, Saugus and Valencia are battling for two automatic playoff spots with just three games left in the league campaign.
West Ranch takes on Hart on the road on Friday to finish off this week’s two-game set. A win for West Ranch would clinch at least a share of the league title for the Wildcats. It would be their first since the 2016 season after years of finishing in second place.
Valencia is set to travel to Golden Valley on Friday while Canyon is slated to travel to Castaic.
Here’s what happened in Wednesday’s Foothill League baseball action:
West Ranch 3, Hart 1: West Ranch senior Hunter Manning continued his dominant pitching campaign as he led the Wildcats (16-8, 8-1) to a 3-1 home victory over the Hart Hawks (11-9, 6-2).
Manning tossed a complete game, striking out 12 while allowing just four hits. His season ERA now sits at 0.97.
Nolan Stoll had a double and scored once for West Ranch. Omar Gutierrez drove in two runs.
Tristan Purfoy struck out five on the mound for Hart, allowing five hits over 5 2/3 innings. Anthony Cavarretta doubled for Hart.
The Hawks are still sitting in second place in the league standings, half a game ahead of Saugus.
Castaic 5, Canyon 2: The Castaic Coyotes (15-9, 5-4) used a strong pitching performance from senior Chad Kober to take down the hosting Canyon Cowboys (3-20, 0-9), 5-2.
Kober struck out 12 and allowed no earned runs on one hit as he tossed a complete game.
Orion Gonzalez and Josh Kurtz each collected two hits for Castaic. Gonzalez doubled twice and drove in three runs, while Kurtz scored twice.
Valencia 5, Golden Valley 0: The Valencia Vikings (8-12, 5-6) shut out the Golden Valley Grizzlies (8-14, 2-7), 5-0, in their penultimate league game.
Valencia’s Noah Jaquez struck out nine and allowed three hits in six innings on the mound. He also hit a home run and a double.
Justin Gaisford also homered for Valencia, while Colten Biggs, Lincoln Hunt and Esteban Valencia each had a double.
