By Ray Conner
This past week the Broncs varsity baseball team went on the road to play games.
They would split the action. Kern Valley suffered their first loss of the year against Woodlake, but bounced back to gain the victory over Granite Hills. They would drop the game to Woodlake 5-0, but gained the 10-0 win over Granite Hills.
In the loss versus the Tigers, Kern Valley had a chance to get on the board in the first inning. They could not come up with the big hit and left them scoreless in the game.
After two Broncs made out to begin the game, Ethan Stockwell singled. He stole second to get into scoring position. He then took off for third to record another stolen base. Cameron Thomas worked out a walk to put runners on the corners. Thomas recorded a steal and Kern Valley had two runners waiting to cross the plate. Unfortunately, it would not happen and the Broncs had wasted a chance to take the lead.
Kern Valley would have five baserunners the rest of the way. One of the Broncs reached third and three got as far as second.
One was left at first in the final at bat.
Woodlake’s scoring came twice in the third and three times in the fourth. The Tigers pitcher was in control as he fanned nine Broncs to toss the shutout.
The Broncs were limited to five hits in the contest. Zack Wargo banged out a pair of singles to lead the team. E. Stockwell, Carson Strange, and Aeden Quezada each collected singles in the game.
Kern Valley used three pitchers in the contest. Wargo (2-1) took the bump and was saddled with the loss. He would toss four and two-third innings of baseball. He allowed all five runs, with four being scored as earned. Wargo gave up seven hits, walked five and struck out six.
Seth Stockwell strikes out 10 in Kern Valley win over Granite Hills
Head coach Mike Genthner said, “Woodlake was the better team. They basically out played us in every phase of the game. We had opportunities in six of the innings. We never got the big hit when needed. Much of that had to do with the quality of their pitcher, but we didn’t help ourselves swinging at bad pitches and striking out looking so often.”
The Broncs came back with a vengeance in the second game of the week. It was barely a contest as the Grizzlies were outplayed the whole way.
The Broncs pitchers worked the one hit shutout by striking out 13 Grizzlies. The offense banged out 15 hits as a team and went wild on the bases. They would collect eight stolen bases as a team.
Kern Valley jumped out quickly to take a 2-0 lead. They never looked back as they collected the win.
E. Stockwell led off the game with a single and stole second. Thomas would drive him home with a triple and came around to score on a groundout from Wargo. Jordan Mead continued the inning with a single, but was stranded at second after swiping the bag.
The Broncs added their 2-0- margin in the top of the second. They would tally four runs to open the 6-0 lead. Chris Lopez began the inning with a single. Quezada followed with a single of his own. Lopez got to third and scored on an error by the Granite Hills catcher. One out later, E. Stockwell was plunked to load the bases. Wargo smacked a double to plate two runs, while Strange recorded a single and an RBI.
Kern Valley scored five more times over the next five innings to end the one game losing streak. They added one in the third on E. Stockwell’s run-scoring double. Two runs crossed the plate in the fourth as Madden and Lopez were each credited with an RBI. They finished with a run in the sixth.
Strange and Lopez led the team in hitting with three. E. Stockwell and Wargo delivered two hits, while Thomas, Mead, Seth Stockwell, Quezada, and Madden each had one hit for Kern Valley.
S. Stockwell (3-0) kept the opponent in check as went six innings. He gave up the one hit and walked a pair of batters. He set down 10 opponents on strikes. Madden pitched one inning of perfect relief. He struck out all three batters he faced.
Genthner said, “We did a good job of bouncing back after a tough game earlier in the week. I was happy with our focus and effort. Everyone contributed in the win.”
Genthner went on to say, “This was probably Seth’s (Stockwell) best outing in three years on varsity. Even though he held Granite Hills to one hit while striking out 10, what impressed me the most was walking only two hitters.”
Kern Valley on the year is 5-1 as they gear up for league play that started at home against Bishop on Tuesday. They will continue league action on Friday hosting Mammoth.
