Wolves feast on Honkers

It appeared sophomore starter Jake Stassi was zoned in after he struck out Woodland leadoff hitter Joe Whitehead with three pitches to begin game two of a three-game series with conference-rival Woodland at home on Thursday.

But it quickly became a day of growing pains for the youngster.

Woodland scored four runs after two innings and exploded in the fourth inning with five more to win 9-3 and to knot both teams up at 15-2 overall and 4-1 in the Tri-County Conference.

"Every year, if you play this game long enough, you're going to have games like this," said Yuba City coach Jim Stassi. "It's not the end of the world. We'll regroup and get back out there tomorrow. The big game is tomorrow."

The winner of today's game at Woodland would have the hammer headed into the home stretch of conference play.

"That was a great win for us. Our kids are just playing with so much effort right now," said Woodland coach Javy Valdivia. "As a team member and a human being, that's all we can control — effort — and that's what they're giving us."

The Honkers never seemed to get their bats going against Scotty Grunert, who went the distance on the mound for the Wolves.

After allowing two early hits and a run, the junior settled in and gave up just one more hit until the sixth inning. He struck out two, walked one and hit three batters, including the first-pitch to Max Stassi in the first inning.

The bean ball came after Stassi hit three home runs to lead Yuba City to a 10-5 win in the opening game of the series on Tuesday. It also heightened an already emotional and intense atmosphere.

Yuba City responded to a two-run home run hit by Garrett Wright in the first inning with a James Haymore RBI-single, but then the Honkers hit a wall offensively, and the game took on a bizarre sequence of events.

Woodland's Alex Sachs led off the second inning with a grounder to third, but an overthrow forced first baseman Brandon Pope off the bag and diving into the baseline. He tripped Sachs, who was already safe, and the baserunner was awarded second.

Josh Berlin then a hit a single to move Sachs over, and a Jake Stassi pickoff attempt was called a balk, and scored Sachs.

"These things come up in a big game like this," Valdivia said. "Coaches, parents and players get a little more intense in these games and those type of things happen."

Seth Young drove in Berlin with a big double and Woodland took a 4-1 lead.

Wright went 3-for-4 with the home run and three RBIs, while Young went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

After both teams quieted in the third, Woodland's Manny Castaneda and Max Perea led off the fourth inning with a pair of hits, and with one out, Young, Wright and Anthony Richmond each belted hits into the outfield to pour on the insurance.

"This was just one of those games, where everything they hit was in a hole or a gap," Jim Stassi said. "But the beauty of baseball is that you play a lot of games."

Yuba City's Jared Thorton and Jack Kirby finished up on the mound in the back half, but a 9-1 lead would stand until the Honkers scored two more runs in the seventh.

Justin Lamb, who hit an RBI-single in the seventh to drive in Hunter Graves, went 2-for-4, while James Haymore went 2-for-4. Max Stassi had an RBI-single to drive in Billy Nuxoll in the seventh.

Contact sports reporter Bryan DeMain at 749-4796 or at bdemain@appeal-democrat.com