By Ray Conner
The junior varsity Broncs baseball squad picked up a pair of wins in the two games played this past week.
They were able to take the game 8-2 over Woodlake on March 12 and follow that with a commanding 17-2 victory over the Grizzlies of Granite Hills on March 14. Both games saw the Kern Valley team go on the road to play.
The Broncs took the early lead from the Tigers of Woodlake as they produced four runs in the top of the first. This would prove enough runs to claim the victory, but the offense wanted more. They added three runs in the third and finished with a lone run in the fourth.
Woodlake tried to rally, but were limited to a pair of runs in their half of the fourth.
The Broncs as a team collected 11 hits and were credited with 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts. Leading the way for Kern Valley was Maddox Beaury with a pair of hits, including a double. He would score three runs and knock in one. Shilo Galvan delivered two hits and an RBI, while Jackson Price and Brandon Cox each had two hits. Andrew Barton, Blake Embree, and Owinn Liske each had one hit in the contest. Price tossed a complete game for the win.
Two days later, the Broncs squared off with Granite Hills. The Grizzlies proved to be no match for the Broncs as they claimed the game with a 17-2 win.
Blake Baughman was on the hill to start for Kern Valley. He pitched two innings allowing two unearned runs. He surrendered just one hit. He would collect the win. Brandon Cox came on in relief where he struck out one, walked one and got an outstanding fielding play to end the inning on a double play. After the free pass, Price made a catch in short left field. He gathered himself and threw to first to complete the double play.
Kern Valley head coach Wayne Moore said, “Yesterday the highlight of the game was Brandon Cox. Brandon is new to the game of baseball. He has been asking me to pitch recently. Brandon has never had any game time pitching or formal bullpen work. I decided to make him a deal that if we were ahead in today’s game by 15 or more, that he could try pitching. At the end of the second inning, we were up 17-2 so I decided to make good with my promise. Brandon came in for the third inning, struck out the first batter after falling behind 3-0. He took the second batter to 3-2, then after a couple of foul balls, ended up giving up a walk. Big part of our success so far this season has been aggressive base running. We have 85 stolen bases in 86 attempts through 10 games. The team was aggressive with the bats and on the bases which is what led to the large run total.”
The Broncs will now set its sight on HDL play as they took n Bishop at home on Tuesday. They will follow that up with a game versus Mammoth at home on Friday.
