Central Valley’s baseball team made program history last week.
The Hawks beat the Buhach Colony Thunder for the first time.
Central Valley swept the two-game Central California Conference series.
“It feels good to beat them,” Hawks’ pitcher/middle infielder Diego Delahoya said. “They’re a good team. Our main focus was not making mental mistakes. That’s what’s killed us all year.”
The fourth-place Hawks improved to 13-11 on the season and kept their slim Sac-Joaquin Section playoff hopes after rallying for an 8-7 extra-inning victory over the second-place Thunder on Thursday in Ceres.
Central Valley battled back from a 6-2 deficit.
Down 7-6, the Hawks scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to complete the comeback.
Josiah Sandoval scored from third base on Ryan Estermann’s walk-off sacrifice fly to left field.
“It was an exciting win,” said Delahoya, who earned a no-decision on the mound. “We were down by a lot. Once we picked up the energy in the dugout, that’s what made us come back.”
Delahoya allowed one earned run and five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in 71/3 innings.
He stayed in the game after being struck by a line drive in the second inning. The ball hit Delahoya in the back and deflected off his left arm.
“I was icing my arm the whole game,” he said. “It got swollen. But not bad. I didn’t change anything. I kept going forward. It’s good he (coach Brad Bussard) has trust in me. It goes a long way.”
Garret Garcia picked up his first win of the season in relief of Delahoya.
He surrendered no runs and no hits with no strikeouts and no walks in 2/3 innings.
The Hawks totaled nine hits on offense.
Estermann batted 1-for-3 with one homer, three RBIs and one run.
Edgar Peralta batted 3-for-4 with three doubles, one RBI and two runs.
Sandoval batted 2-for-3 with two runs.
Eddie Stewart batted 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run.
Jayson Casias batted 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Fernando Dominguez batted 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Chris Garcia and Jake Olson contributed one run each.
“Our offense started to click at the right time,” Delahoya said.
Central Valley edged Buhach Colony 1-0 on April 25 in Atwater.
Estermann gave up no runs and four hits with one strikeout in four innings.
He batted 1-for-3 from the plate with one double and one run.
Dominguez singled.
The Hawks have won six of their last seven games, including three of four in CCC play.
Central Valley compiled a 5-7 record against conference competition.
“I’m not surprised,” Delahoya said while talking about his team’s late-season success. “I know what we’re capable of. We started to connect better towards the end of the year.”
