Ceres High’s baseball program won a pair of Western Athletic Conference games versus Pacheco last week.

Central Valley had to settle for a split while competing twice against Central California Conference-rival Patterson.

Both teams remained in the hunt for Sac-Joaquin Section playoff spots.

“The possibility is still there,” said Brad Bussard, new head coach of the Hawks. “But it’s going to be tough. We have to run the table.”

“We’re heading in the right direction,” Bulldogs’ first-year leader Raul Godinez said. “The momentum is with us.”

Ceres High improved to 5-8 overall and 5-3 in the WAC after earning a narrow 5-4 victory at Pacheco on April 5.

The Bulldogs moved to third place in the league standings.

Ceres High leapfrogged Pacheco.

“It’s really exciting,” said Godinez . “Everything is falling into place.”

Jorge Gonzalez was the winning pitcher.

Sophomore Vincent Castrejon notched his second save of the season.

“Being a younger guy, Vincent handled the pressure well,” Godinez stated. 

“I think we found our closer,” he added.

Ceres High topped visiting Pacheco 12-11 on April 4 at Art McRae Field.

“It was cool to see the team execute things we’ve been working on,” Godinez said.

Brayden Clark was the winning pitcher.

The Bulldogs turned their season around after dropping their first five games.

“Right now, we’re all on the same page,” Godinez said. “We’re a different team when our energy is up.”

Central Valley dropped to 7-9 overall and 2-6 in the CCC standings after losing 11-0 in six innings to Patterson on April 6 in Ceres.

“We couldn’t get anything going,” Bussard said. “Everysingle thing that could go wrong, did go wrong. That’s baseball.”

Hawk pitcher Diego Delahoya (2-2) allowed six runs and eight hits with four strikeouts and four walks in 41/3 innings.

Delahoya doubled on offense.

Central Valley edged host Patterson 5-4 on April 4.

“It was a thrilling win,” Bussard said. “Patterson made a late push in the end.”

Hawk pitcher Fernando Dominguez picked up his first career save.

He surrendered one run and two hits with one strikeout and one walk in one inning.

Dominguez, a freshman, struck out the final batter to end the game.

Patterson stranded runners on second and third base.

“It was a big-time moment for him. It was really cool to watch. He plays high-end travel ball. He’s used to being in those situations.”

Central Valley starting pitcher Ryan Estermann (1-2) gave up three runs and five hits with eight strikeouts and four walks in 52/3 innings.

Dominguez batted 2-for-3 from the plate with one RBI.

Estermann batted 1-for-4 with one run.

Garret Garcia batted 2-for-4 with one double, one RBI and one run.

Miguel Espinoza batted 2-for-3 with one double and one run.

Jayson Casias batted 1-for-2 with one double and one run.

Chris Garcia batted 1-for-4 with one double and one RBI.

Raul Hernandez scored once.

The Hawks ended a two-game conference losing streak.

Central Valley has lost four times by two runs or less this year.

“We’ve shown we can beat the best of the best. We’ve also played down to opponents that aren’t of the same caliber.”