WARSAW - Coming into this year, the California baseball program had won a total of one district game in its history. First-year head coach Matt Moulder was able to double that number in the span of a week with dominant Class 3 District 13 wins over Cole Camp and Versailles.
So despite a 4-3 loss to Butler in Thursday night's district championship game, it'd be hard not to look at this Pintos baseball season as anything but a success.
"You certainly can't question the effort," Moulder said. "You can't question the commitment, they laid it all on the line. If you lay it all out there for each other, you have nothing to be ashamed of, and we certainly don't have anything to be ashamed of.
"These kids have come so far this year. I'm so proud of them. From where we started this program back in March to where we are right now, they've come miles and miles."
The Pintos end the year at 14-13 with a second-place district finish, and for a half-inning, it looked as though their season would continue beyond Thursday night.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the fifth inning, five California hits turned into three runs to give the Pintos a slim lead in the late stages of the ballgame. Cole Schlup, Jacob Wolken and Hunter Heimericks drove in the three runs for California.
However, after Butler (22-2) answered in the bottom half with a pair of runs, the Bears trotted out reliever Kirby Connell to open the sixth. The Pintos were unable to get a hit off Connell in the final two innings and ultimately fell a run short of extending their season further.
Sophomore Cade Knipp got the start for California in this one. The lefty went four and two-third innings, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out a pair.
Butler jumped on Knipp early as Connell and Kyler Jacobs each singled in the first frame to scratch out the game's opening run. The Bears would double their lead in the third when starting pitcher Tate Bollweg clubbed a solo shot to left. In a game that featured 15 hits combined, Bollweg's homer was the only one that went for extra bases.
Butler's two-run fifth was powered by Jacobs. With two outs, the third baseman had a bases loaded single that drove in two to wind up being the eventual game-winning hit.
Of the eight California hits in Thursday night's district championship, Wolken and Landon Mouse accounted for two apiece.
"I couldn't be more thankful for a super group of kids," Moulder said. "I couldn't be more thankful for a tremendous administration, tremendous group of parents and great community support.
"It's been a wonderful season and it's just the beginning. We have a bright future ahead of us and we're going to continue to build it."
Pintos avenge Versailles loss in district semi
Prior to Thursday's district championship game, California played Tri-County conference foe Versailles in the Class 3 District 13 semifinal last Wednesday night.
Though the Pintos really struggled off Tigers starter Brendan Owsley when the teams first played back on April 22, that was certainly not the case the second time around.
California scored in every inning on Wednesday, highlighted by four runs in both the first and third frames to cruise to a 13-2 run-rule-shortened victory in five innings.
"I thought it was going to be really important for us to come out and swing the sticks," Moulder said. "We wanted to come out and be really aggressive and attack the fastball and try and get that early lead and try to put pressure on them and see what happens. Obviously, our kids stepped up and did a nice job today."
The Pintos connected for nine hits against Versailles, three of which came off the bat of catcher Sam Kirby. The sophomore also led California with three RBI in the win.
But perhaps more important than the nine hits for California was simply the approach the team had against the Tigers (14-8). The Pintos were patient, drawing five walks, and they also put the ball in play almost every at-bat, allowing them to benefit from five Versailles errors.
"All week long in practice we were focused on jumping on them early," Mouse said. "We wanted to kind of get (the pitcher) off his groove and hopefully get him out of the ballgame quick."
On the mound, California relied on Heimericks, Wolken and Mouse to get the job done against the Tigers. Heimericks got the start and went three innings, allowing one run on one hit and three walks. He picked up one strikeout. Wolken came on in relief in the fourth and gave up one run on two hits while also registering one punch-out. Mouse pitched a very quick scoreless fifth, going 1-2-3 and ringing up two.