Pintos use huge fourth inning to stomp Jamestown

Jamestown's Garrett Wolfe and California shortstop Kory Stephens get ready for the next pitch in the 10-0 Pintos win played Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
Jamestown's Garrett Wolfe and California shortstop Kory Stephens get ready for the next pitch in the 10-0 Pintos win played Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

One week after drubbing Tipton on home turf, California continued its supremacy over Moniteau County foes with a 10-0 win over Jamestown Tuesday, April 11.

The Pintos tallied a dozen hits as eight different starters got into the hit column. After just a pair of runs in the game's first three innings, a fourth-inning explosion of eight runs put the game to rest after five frames via the run rule.

"I was pleased with our hitting today," said California coach Matt Moulder. "I thought our approach at the plate was good and I thought we were geared up and ready to hit the fastball and didn't take good pitches early in the count."

Leadoff-man Kory Stephens started the Pintos off right with a triple on the first pitch he saw. Stephens came across to score two batters later for the game's opening salvo. He had a second triple and a run scored during the fourth-inning rally.

Jacob Wolken, Hayden Green and Jacob Adams all had two hits, as well. Wolken's second knock was a two-run double that really blew the game open in the fourth.

"Every coach in America tells his pitcher to try and get ahead early," Moulder said. "A lot of times, as a hitter, the best pitch you're going to see will be early in the count.

"We certainly don't want our guys going up there swinging at anything and everything they see, but if they get a good pitch, we want them to be ready to hit it."

Green, Adams, Jackson Trachsel and Colton Warren all drove in runs as well for California.

On the bump, Isaac Wells got the start and threw four scoreless innings for the Pintos. Wells allowed four hits and registered four strikeouts. He also managed to strand six Jamestown runners in the win. Sophomore Gabe Bailey threw the fifth frame for California and struck out the side.

"If we're walking guys and hitting guys, it's a recipe for disaster," Moulder said. "We really stressed that we can't be doing that because they have a couple of really good hitters and we wanted to make sure we kept them off the board."

Garrett Wolfe had two of Jamestown's five hits in the loss. Both of Wolfe's hits came with the bases empty. In his other plate appearance, he came up with a runner on second, but the Pintos took the bat out of his hands with an intentional walk. Austin Flippin, Cole Theissen and Brandon Thompson all had one hit apiece for the Eagles.

"(Jamestown) has a nice, young club with some guys that are very talented," Moulder said. "It's just tough at the Class 1 level to match up with the numbers of a Class 3. But they've got a nice team that can really make some noise at their level."