South Placer Baseball Roundup: Whitney High defeats West Park at Sutter Health Park

The 2022 baseball season has begun and some teams are already making statements such as Rocklin High, who took down Woodcreek High last Friday and Del Oro High, who is off to a hot start. Here is a look into how area teams have been performing. Whitney versus West Park The Wildcats and the Panthers got an amazing experience on Wednesday night playing on a Triple A field at Sutter Health Park, which hosts the Sacramento River Cats. "It's a really great opportunity to get our kids out here for the experience," Whitney High coach Jackson Watt said. "Huge thank you to the River Cats for putting this together." The River Cats have hosted high school games for years and Whitney and West Park worked with their administration to schedule the game. Sutter Health Park will host seven more high school games this month. Whitney got the upper hand in the affair, winning 5-2 with solid hitting that began in the third inning. Senior Jake Morell got things started with a triple and scored off of a passed ball. They scored another run to take a 2-1 lead and added another in the third from a Dillon Castellanos single. West Park got back into the game in the sixth with a run batted in single by Treston Kochhar but Whitney slammed the door with another run in the bottom of the inning. The Panthers had four errors in the game and had 12 on the season in their first four games. "There is a lot of youth and that is present," Panthers coach Ben Petersen said. "We still hung in there against a Division I opponent and there's still so many positives that are showing." Panthers junior Tyler Hutchinson had a solid outing, striking out seven batters in 4.1 innings. For Whitney, Tanner Dykstra pitched five innings while striking out only two batters and giving up one run. The Wildcats face Rosemont at home on Tuesday while the Panthers play Christian Brothers on Saturday. Rocklin versus Woodcreek The Woodcreek Timberwolves entered the 2022 season as the eighth-ranked team in California, according to Prep Baseball Report, but dropped their first game of the season last Friday 7-3 against Rocklin. "They had a couple of timely hits and some passed balls hurt us today but our pitchers hit our spots and I think it came down to where the ball landed," Timberwolves coach Lucas Conn said. "We put good barrels on balls and I'm proud of our guys and how we stayed in it the whole game." Both teams scored a run in the first inning and left runners on base without scoring in the second but the Thunder scored two runs in the third to take a 3-2 lead. Junior Austin Tressler knocked in one of the runs with a double in the inning. Rocklin added two more in the fourth, due to walks and wild pitches by the Timberwolves. Woodcreek got one run back in the sixth from a sacrifice fly by Connor Enslow but the Thunder shut the door with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. "We struggled for three games with our approach at the plate and today they had a mentality that they were going to take that pitcher down with them and battle until he made a mistake," Thunder coach Steven Moller said. "We went into the game wanting to win by doing everything we can correct and everyone was all in today." Rocklin went on to beat Davis 4-1 on Monday while Woodcreek won 7-0 against Oak Ridge on Tuesday. The Timberwolves have a three-game series next week against Yuba City to start Capital Valley Conference action while the Thunder face Roseville on Friday. Del Oro High The Golden Eagles are 5-0 after winning four games in the Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament in Nevada last Friday and Saturday. Del Oro outscored their first three opponents by a combined 50-1 and have been led in pitching and hitting by senior Jaren Ekkelboom. Ekkelboom has five hits in his first six at bats with one home run and five runs batted in. He has also pitched four scoreless innings while only allowing two hits. "The biggest strengths we have as a team is our defense and our offense this year by scoring a lot of runs with very little strikeouts and a higher on-base percentage," Ekkelboom said. Ekkelboom isn't the only person making an impact as Asa Martinez is three for six with a home run and four runs batted in. Junior Quincy Malbrough also has five runs batted in. Del Oro will face Placer on Saturday before taking on Pioneer next Tuesday. Granite Bay High The Grizzlies won their first game of the season 12-2 against Davis on March 2 but lost against Elk Grove on Saturday. Despite the loss, Granite Bay rebounded and defeated a solid Franklin team 7-6 on Wednesday. The Grizzlies are pitching and fielding well as they only have three errors and senior Cadden Hunter has 10 strikeouts. On the batting side, while the Grizzlies are only batting .300, there have been some bright spots, especially from senior Isiah Alfred who hit a three-run home run in the first game against Davis. "I got to celebrate it with my teammates and it really gave us confidence throughout the rest of the game," Alfred said. "I didn't realize it was gone, I just hit the ball and started running. It wasn't until I rounded first that I heard the whole dugout cheering and hyped up, then I looked around as the field umpire was waving his hand around." The Grizzlies face Palo Alto on Saturday before taking on Roseville at home on Tuesday. Oakmont High The Vikings defeated Roseville 1-0 in their first game of the season on March 1 but lost against Whitney on March 4. Oakmont was only down 5-4 against Whitney before the Wildcats scored six in the sixth inning to seal the deal. Senior Tyler Kiersey has led the way in batting, going two for three with a run batted in and also has six putouts in the field. Oakmont will play Del Campo on Saturday before beginning Foothill Valley League competition on Monday against Ponderosa. Roseville High The Tigers lost their first two games of the season but answered back by winning their last two games, including an 11-8 win against Lincoln on Tuesday. Roseville was down 8-7 going into the final inning but scored four runs in the seventh to secure the win. Ramon Esparza and Parker Hellekson both have three runs batted in for Roseville in their first four games. They have been led on the mound by senior David Centeno, who has six strikeouts and has only given up three runs in 8.2 innings pitched. Roseville faces Rocklin on Friday before traveling to Granite Bay on Tuesday. Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League Western Sierra Collegiate Academy is 2-2 after losing their most recent game 16-0 against Kennedy on March 1. The Wolves won their first two games of the season against Foothill and Sacramento before losing 11-10 against Foothill. They have four seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen on the roster. Their next game is against Golden Sierra on Friday before facing Mesa Verde on Monday. Valley Christian Academy lost their first two games of the season against Marysville and Antelope and will face El Camino on Friday. Junior Jackson Nichols has done a good job on the mound, only allowing three runs in five innings with five strikeouts. The Lions also have four players that jumped right from basketball into baseball and are still transitioning.