Submitted photo – The Del Norte Warriors swept a doubleheader against Arcata on Saturday.
The Warriors began the defense of their Big 5 title with a pair of shutouts on Saturday.
One year after ending an 11-year wait for a conference championship, the Del Norte boys welcomed Arcata to Crescent City and swept a baseball doubleheader, winning 4-0 and 10-0 in five innings.
With the two wins, they moved into a tie atop the standings with the Eureka Loggers, who also swept a doubleheader against Fortuna on Saturday.
The Warriors succeeded with strong pitching from Ben Shrewsberry and Landon Williams, who each threw complete games, as well as some strong team defense.
“The pitching was good and our defense backed them up,” said Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook, whose team committed just one error over the two games. “Our defense made the plays and did what we were supposed to do. It was a good way to start off the (league) season.”
The Tigers also enjoyed some strong pitching by the Kees brothers — freshman Rylan and senior Tanner — but the team offense managed just six hits combined over the two games.
“It was just one of those days,” Arcata head coach Troy Ghisetti said. “They put it to us today.”
Shrewsberry pitched a complete game in the opener and allowed just two hits while striking out 10.
Marco Gonzalez led the way at the plate for the home team with a pair of base hits in each game, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs in the opener.
“He stayed hot,” Cook said of the senior team captain.
Williams, Shrewsberry and Damian Escalera each finished 1-for-3, while Kanyon Starkey and Jerimiah Griffin each was 1-for-4.
For Arcata, Joe Wellick and Canyon Martin each finished 1-for-3 for their team’s only hits of the game, including a double by the latter.
Rylan Kees took the loss on the mound despite a strong performance by the impressive freshman pitcher, who has quickly established himself at the varsity level with some big performance through the first month of the season.
The youngster threw five innings and gave up just one earned run while striking out seven and walking three.
“I thought he pitched very well,” Ghisetti said. “We just made some key errors that they capitalized on, and Shrewsberry threw very, very well for them.”
Gonzalez continued to see the ball well in game two, finishing 2-for-3, while Williams was 2-for-2 and Shrewsberry was 2-for-3.
Escalera and freshman Jaxon Sharp each also had a hit in the win, with the latter also playing some strong defense at third base.
Dane Brown drove in the 10th run on a sac fly in the bottom of the fifth inning to end the game early.
File photo – Tanner Kees
Williams pitched a complete game for the victory on the hill, allowing four hits and striking out nine.
Tanner Kees, Max Dixon and Gavin Anderson each finished 1-for-2 for the visitors, while Caden Coyne was 1-for-1.
Tanner Kees also pitched 4.1 innings for the loss, striking out seven and walking three.
“It was the same thing, we just didn’t play very good defense behind Tanner Kees,” Ghisetti said. “We put the ball in play and had some scoring opportunities, but Landon pitched out of a couple of innings and shut us down.”
With the two wins, the Warriors improved to 2-0 in the Big 5 and 7-5 overall, while the Tigers dropped to 0-2 and 5-9.
“You got to tip your cap to Del Norte, they came out and were more aggressive than us at the plate,” Ghisetti said. “And they made a lot of defensive plays that kept them in the game.”
