CCCAA Baseball Playoffs: San Joaquin Delta downs Taft in opening round of playoffs; Super Regional pairings set
CCCAA Baseball Regional Brackets (Updated thru 5/5)
NorCal: Play-in and Regional l Super Regional l Sectional
SoCal: Play-in and Regional l Super Regional l Sectional
By Thomas Lawrence, Record Correspondent
STOCKTON — Helmet taps, high fives and forearm slams reminiscent of the Oakland A’s “Bash Brothers” of the 1980s and ’90s.
Jordan Vujovich enjoyed all of that on the way back to the dugout after belting a three-run home run during the Delta College baseball team’s 8-1 rout of Taft to close their CCCAA NorCal playoff series Saturday at the Mustangs’ Cecchetti Field.
Vujovich’s blast was the second homer of the inning, following fellow lefty Trent North’s solo shot to open the seventh.
No. 1 Delta (36-6), which swept Taft, advances to host either No. 9 Santa Rosa (a Big 8 Conference foe) or No. 8 Mission in another three-game set next Friday and Saturday in Stockton.
Vujovich also kick-started the Mustangs’ three-run first inning, plating leadoff man Beau Philip with an RBI double. The freshman and Granite Bay high product raised his arms in triumph on second base, bellowing “lets go!” to the dugout.
“We really pride ourselves on scoring first,” said Vujovich, who went 2 for 5 with four RBI and two runs. “Once we get it going, I don’t think anybody can beat us.”
Zack Mathis, a Bear Creek High graduate, added another RBI double behind Vujovich, and Anthony Lucchetti (Linden High) lifted a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
“We had a good plan” early on, Mustangs coach Reed Peters said. “We kind of knew what we’d see, which was a lot of off-speed.”
Delta pitcher Nick Avila, though, uses plenty of speed to assert himself.
The Turlock High alum started and picked up the victory, allowing one earned run on seven hits in seven innings, with five strikeouts and a walk. Avila also stranded seven Cougars (23-20).
“We pitched really well today,” Peters said. “When (Avila) got after it, and was up there in the upper 80s and lower 90s (miles per hour), he was really good.”