Friday, Mar. 01, 2013

Tigers blow out Delhi in opener

The Los Banos baseball team opened the season with a pair of big wins -- 19-0 over Delhi on Friday and 10-5 over Le Grand on Wednesday.

Through those two games, center fielder Corbin Lilledahl had six hits, four of them for extra bases.

"He's swinging a good bat," Los Banos coach Mike Lemos said. "As a left-hander myself, we're trying to keep his hands back and let the swing do the work, and try to drive the ball over the shortstop. He's started off 3-for-4 in both games, with two triples and two doubles. Hopefully that stays. In the game of baseball it doesn't always."

The Los Banos offense jumped all over Delhi, scoring nine runs in the first inning while coming four batters away from batting around twice. Tyler Slayday, Chris Castillo and Delvonte Moore each had a pair of hits -- one of Castillo's going for a triple, with the big third baseman's momentum carrying him around second base to arrive at the same time as the throw.

"I'm very happy with how aggressive they are, how they've been doing things we've been working on in the fall and winter," Lemos said. "We've been emphasizing driving the opposite way and not overswinging."

LB's big lead allowed starter Chester Amaral to cruise to a complete-game shutout, which ended by mercy rule after five innings.

Against Le Grand, the Tigers again jumped out early, but Le Grand fought back, loading the bases against starter Cristian Garnica, who finished with nine strikeouts.

"He kind of hit a wall -- it's still the early season," Lemos said. "Chris Castillo came in and did what he could do to limit the runs for Le Grand. We had a couple of ground balls that were not fielded correctly."

Anthony Euly set down the side in the seventh to keep Le Grand from getting any closer.

"It was a good lesson to our guys not to let down, to play the full seven innings," Lemos said. "It was a good challenge. It was good to see our guys compete."

Across town, Pacheco opened on the road with a 3-1 loss to Gregori, then bounced back with a 6-2 win over Gustine behind a 6-strikeout performance by Jesse Cortez. Mark Garcia led the offense with a home run, a double and two RBI.

On Monday, the Panthers defeated Waterford 9-7 to improve to 2-1, with Wyatt Orozco striking out seven in just 3.2 innings of work. Omar Sierra sparked the offense, going 3-4 with a double.

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com