Roseville opens season with 10-0 win over Oakmont

Roseville's and Oakmont's baseball teams met Friday in an early-season non-league baseball game that pictured teams looking at different types of seasons. The Tigers, playing its first game of the season, looked sharp all the way around, winning the game 10-0 in five innings. Starting pitcher Dustin Holcomb threw a no-hitter and was a walk away from a perfect game. The defense was solid, and the offense put together nine hits, bunted the ball well and got a lot of productive outs. The Tigers, the defending Division 4 section champions, have all but a handful of players back and will be looking for another deep playoff run. For Oakmont, it was their fifth game of the season. After winning the first two, they've lost three in a row. After four straight seasons of winning at least 20 games, including 25 wins a year ago and 30 wins two years ago, it's a rebuilding year for the Vikings, as they must replace 12 seniors off of last year's team, eight who were key contributors. Holcomb, a three-year varsity player, was the story of the game, as he allowed only one walk and no hits while striking out five. "Everything was working, my fastball and changeup," Holcomb said. "I really executed those two pitches and I mixed in the curve ball in the later innings trying to find a swing where they'd pop it up or hit it on the ground." Roseville coach Elijah Garcia was pleased with his senior pitcher. "Dusty is a veteran and I know what I'm going to get out of him," Garcia said. "He's going to compete. His offspeed pitch will complement his fastball. Today's performance was just a testament to how far he's come and how hard he works. It's awesome seeing him out there. He throws strikes and competes." Roseville's offense was impressive and it wasn't just because of the team's nine hits in five innings. The Tigers executed their small ball game well with a pair of sacrifice bunts, a bunt single and several outs where batters went the opposite way to move runners up a base. "The kids did a good job of staying ready whether they were in the starting lineup or not," Garcia said. "There are nine guys on the field but 25 guys who play the whole game. Whatever your role is, be the best at it and compete. We played small ball and got productive outs; we have a way we play and it's called Tiger ball and we did a good job with that today." Roseville scored one run in the first inning when leadoff hitter Ben Jordan was hit by a pitch and Devin Johnson walked before Noah Welch's sacrifice bunt moved the runners over a base. Colton Wolfe's ground out to second base scored Jordan. In the third inning, Johnson started things off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and Wolfe picked up his second RBI on a groundout. Austin Chang later reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Roseville broke the game open and ended the game with a seven-run fifth inning. Freshman Brett Reagor hit a RBI-double and Johnson, Welch and Wolfe later followed with two-run singles. "Our offense was great today; 10 runs in five innings is pretty good," Holcomb said. "You can't get much better than that." Oakmont coach Heath Dringenberg, who replaced long-time coach Paul Martinez this season, said his team will take their lumps early this year, but expects to compete in the Pioneer Valley League. "We graduated eight starters last year so we've got young varsity players," Dringenberg said. "We've got seniors, but they don't have a lot of experience. We're going to take some lumps early and we're going to figure it out and learn how to win. "We've been hitting the ball great, so I was a little surprised to see the no-hitter today. Our defense and pitching, which I thought would be our strength, has been letting us down, as we've given up a lot of runs and have been missing our spots on the mound." Among Oakmont's roster, Dringenberg said Friday's starting pitcher Brayden Saucedo, along with Mark Aguas and Henry Gumpert are the team's top pitchers. The team's best hitter, Matt Aguas, is currently injured but should be back in a couple of weeks. His brother, Mark, and Jackson Longley have started the season as the team's top hitters. "We'll be alright," Dringenberg said. "We're retooling this year. We've got a tough non-league schedule, but by the time we get to league I think we'll be OK."