Central Catholic baseball dominant in series clinching win over Manteca
The Central Catholic baseball team went back to the basics this week.
The Raiders struggled in their series opener against the Buffaloes Monday, getting shutout 10-0 in a six-inning loss and coach Danny Ayala made sure the team remembered its foundation, despite an up and down season.
“We didn’t have the season we’ve wanted to have as far as wins and losses, but just knowing who we are, sticking to our foundation, good energy, good approaches,” he said.
Central Catholic regrouped Tuesday at practice then rebounded Wednesday with a 7-6 win at home in eight innings to even the series at 1-1. Friday, the Raiders played like the team they knew they could be all season, beating the Buffaloes 11-1 in six innings to take the season series and keep their hopes of a share of the Valley Oak League championship alive.
TP Wentworth has never lost a series against Manteca. He made sure of that Friday.
The Clemson commit pitched the full six innings and struck out 12 batters while allowing just three hits. At the plate, he sent a solo home run over the right field fence in the third inning and walked twice in four plate appearances.
“This was huge,” Wentworth said. “Monday, I couldn’t even tell you what happened. Everything just went wrong and they played really well. Wednesday we grinded, got W and yeah the whole goal was to have this game to win the series. It’s so fun to play against (Manteca) every year.”
Offense was not hard to come by for the Raiders in their second game at Manteca this week.
Senior third baseman Seth Van Dyk drove in a team-high four runs and had a double. Senior outfielder Trace Hernandez added a pair of hits, a single and a triple.
The Raiders put up seven runs in the top of the fourth inning to extend a 2-1 game into a 9-1 advantage. They added a run in the fifth and sixth innings to bring out the mercy rule.
“I wouldn’t say that before this that our bats were hot,” Van Dyk said. “I think we’ve been doing a great job at practice and our guys started coming together and putting together team AB’s, quality AB’s and it showed off here.”
Central Catholic also got production from an unlikely source in sophomore Kayden McHenry.
McHenry started the season on varsity and saw action as a pitcher and utility player. In an effort to get him more reps, Ayala sent him down to JV, where he played for the past month. Instead of sulking, he produced, hitting .500 (15-for-30) with 10 RBI, four doubles and three home runs in 11 games.
He was called back up to varsity this week and immediately made an impact, recording a pair of hits Wednesday in his first game back with the big boys.
Friday, he played his best varsity game this season, collecting a career high three hits in four at bats. He hit his first varsity home run in the fourth inning and first varsity double in the sixth.
“It’s pretty cool, just staying with the team and then just trying to find any way to help out the team,” McHenry said. “(Winning) league is our main goal right now, then section and state. So we really want to go on a run right now.”
Said Ayala: “Had to use the program to develop him and allow him to get his games in and he was swinging the bat extremely well. We felt like it was the right time to bring him up and he stayed hot and found some barrels.”
The Raiders feel like they are finally headed in the right direction.
They have won seven of their last 10 games and started seeing the ball well in their past two games against the Buffaloes. Things are playing out similar to how they did last season. After losing the first game of the Manteca series, the Raiders went on a run, claiming league, section and NorCal titles.
Next week, they hunt down a share of the VOL title against Kimball. With Oakdale’s loss to Sierra Friday, if the Raiders sweep Kimball in their final league series they will finish as co-league champions with the Mustangs. Each team could finish with an 11-4 league record. Oakdale would get a higher seed in the Division III playoffs because they beat Central Catholic in the season series.
Central Catholic has experience on its side. Nearly all of its starters from last season’s championship team returned this year.
“We’ve just got to take care of business,” Wentworth said. “I’m grateful for how the season has ended. We’ve really turned it around. We were struggling early and get it when it matters and to go on a run in the postseason is the goal.”
