Central Valley’s and Ceres High’s baseball teams both expect to contend for the Western Athletic Conference championship and Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berths this spring.
“We have one of the best programs in the area,” Hawks’ third-year head coach Brad Bussard said. “We do a very good job developing players. We’re giving our kids every opportunity to be successful.”
“We have some great baseball players,” Bulldogs’ new leader Bret Durossette stated. “Our kids have done a great job of buying in. We want to put them in a position to be successful. It’s a work in progress. You try to get better every day.”
Ceres High has a 10-player roster.
Vincent Castrejon (Sr.), Daniel Davis (Sr.), Aiden Maines (Sr.), Carson Ulrich (Sr.) and Mario Vargas (So.) returned to the team.
Jayden Lopez (Jr.), Ashton Urena (Jr.), Junior Sombrerero (So.), Anthony Trevino (So.) and Isaac Moreno are newcomers.
Kyan Bowen, Brayden Clark, David Diaz De Leon, Diego Mariscal, Ernesto Miranda and Donovan Osuna were lost to graduation.
“They love the game of baseball,” Durossette said while talking about Ceres High’s 2025 squad. “They all get along great. That’s awesome. We’re getting a lot of stuff done at practice. We do the same thing every day and it works. Hopefully, we stay healthy.”
Castrejon, Urena, Vargas and Ulrich will log playing time at pitcher this year.
Castrejon earned second-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors as a junior.
Central Valley has 16 players on its roster, including Angel Calderon (Sr.), Nicholas Dominguez (Sr.), Andre Flores (Sr.), Chris Garcia (Sr.), Edgar Peralta (Sr.), Aiden Prudhel (Sr.), Gabriel Reyes (Sr.), Hunter Shaw (Sr.), Fernando Dominguez (Jr.), Carter Hernandez (Jr.), Caden Mendonca (Jr.), Samuel Rubio (Jr.), Isaias Valdovinos (Jr.), Mason Whitworth (Jr.), Tyson Hunt (So.) and Ezequiel Verduzco (So.).
Calderon, Flores, Garcia, Peralta, Prudhel, Reyes, Shaw, Hernandez, Mendonca, Valdovinos, Whitworth, Nicholas Dominguez and Fernando Dominguez are returners.
Rubio, Hunt and Verduzco are newcomers.
Edmund Stewart, Juan Alonzo, Raul Hernandez, Josiah Sandoval and Caiden Whittle were lost to graduation.
“We have a very experienced team,” Bussard said. “These kids have been playing together their whole lives. They’re very comfortable with each other.”
Whitworth, Garcia, Fernando Dominguez and Nicholas Dominguez all earned Central California Conference honors a season ago.
Nicholas Dominguez was selected to the CCC First Team.
Garcia and Fernando Dominguez were named to the CCC Second Team.
Whitworth was a CCC honorable-mention selection.
Garcia, Shaw, Mendonca, Valdovinos, Whitworth, Hunt, Verduzco and Nicholas Dominguez will all contribute at pitcher in 2025.
“It’s a luxury to have that many pitchers,” Bussard said. “I can rest them and make sure they’re ready for playoffs.”
Central Valley and Ceres High will compete in the same league for the first time since the 2020-21 COVID-shortened season. The Hawks relocated from the CCC to the WAC as part of the section’s league realignment plan.
“We got moved to the WAC because of competitive equity,” Bussard said. “We were competitive in the CCC. It prepared us for playoffs. We would have had the opportunity to place first in the CCC this year. Other sports at our school were struggling.”
The new-look WAC features a total of eight teams, including Central Valley, Ceres High, Beyer, Grace Davis, Johansen, Lathrop, Livingston and Pacheco
The top three teams in the WAC will be awarded automatic playoff berths.
Central Valley compiled a 15-14 overall record, finished third in the CCC with an 8-4 mark and qualified for the Division-I playoffs last spring.
Ceres High amassed a 15-9 overall record and tied for third place with Beyer in the WAC with a 9-5 mark. The Patriots earned the conference’s final playoff spot thanks to their 2-0 head-to-head record versus the Bulldogs.
“It’s going to come down to Ceres and us for the league title,” Bussard said.
“There’s always been a rivalry,” Durossette stated. “It was created because there are two schools in one town.”
“It’s definitely good for the city of Ceres,” Bussard added. “It puts more weight on those games.”
Bussard was promoted to head coach of Central Valley’s baseball program in 2023.
“League championships are great,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you want to win a section championship. Maybe one day we can hang a blue banner in the gym.”
Durossette replaced 2024 WAC Coach of the Year Raul Godinez, who led Ceres High to 22 wins and one playoff appearance during in two seasons.
This will be Durossette’s third time serving as head coach of the Bulldogs (1996-99, 2007-10).
“I thought it was the right time to come back and coach,” he said. “It’s been an absolute blast.”
