Red-hot Mustangs sweep their way to state semifinals

By Scott Niendorf Record Correspondent

SACRAMENTO – It didn't take long for Delta to let Cosumnes River know the Mustangs' red-hot bats were not about to cool down anytime soon.

After pounding out 18 hits in their Game 1 victory Friday, the Mustangs continued the barrage Saturday afternoon with 15 hits, including a key pair of first inning home runs, to hand Delta a 13-4 victory over the Hawks to sweep their California Community College Athletic Association Northern Sectional Regional best-of-three series at Cosumnes River's Conway Field.

Delta earned its third consecutive and fifth trip since 2009 to the final four of the CCCAA state championships next Saturday to May 30 at Fresno City College.

Ninth-seeded Delta College will face southern section No. 3 seed Golden West, which swept No. 7 Chaffey College in their sectional series, while top-seeded Santa Rosa will square off against No. 4 Cypress College.

Delta freshman right-hander Alex Dentoni threw eight quality innings giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks to help the Mustangs (31-11) keep the Hawks (32-12) in check.

Dentoni gave up a single and double to the first two batters of the game and was down 1-0 in the top of the first inning with nobody out, but the Delta defense got out of the jam as Dentoni struck out one and induced a pair of fly ball outs.

"I was kind of struggling with command of my pitches (early) so I was just trying to get (the ball) over the plate," said Dentoni, a Tokay High product who threw 120 pitches to get the job done. "I was trying to figure out the strike zone and throw strikes and let (the Hawks) hit it and let my defense do the work."

Mustangs freshman Nick Poirier pulled an off-speed pitch off Cosumnes River pitcher Matt Stafford over the right field fence in the home half of the first to tie the game, and sophomore Chris Williams hit a two-run blast over the centerfield wall two batters later that also scored Carlos Moseley for a 3-0 lead.

"It was a changeup, up and in," said Poirier, who went 3 for 3 with four RBI, including a sacrifice fly. "I knew the pitcher uses a lot of off speed stuff. He gave me that pitch and I pulled it out. As a team we've been keeping (our hitting) simple and staying relaxed. We're just getting our pitch and hitting it. Hopefully we can keep bringing it through to next weekend."

Williams went 3 for 4 with six RBI on two home runs and a double, and scored on a wild pitch from Stafford to give Delta a 6-2 lead after three innings.

"We know not to stress if someone puts a couple of quick runs on the board," said the left-handed Delta cleanup hitter, whose three-run homer in the sixth inning cleared the opposite field fence in left to give his team a 13-3 lead. "We know our offense is going to come back and put more runs up on the board."

Marcus Vidales led off the Mustangs batting order by going 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored, and freshman Brett Young went 1 for 3 with a stolen base and two runs scored.

"We're playing our best baseball of the year," Mustangs coach Reed Peters said. "Offensively we're just dialed in. We got healthy at the right time. (Our players) are listening to what we're telling them and they're doing it."

Delta freshman Calvin Riley pitched the ninth inning and gave up an unearned run and struck out the Hawks' Jordan Estes to end the game.