Six quick runs in the first two innings helped the varsity baseball team roll over Nevada Union, 7-3, and claim a Sierra Foothill League championship for Coach Roc Murray.
“Swinging the bats and our defense won the game for us,” said Brian Hosang, closing pitcher and infielder.
The team avenged a 5-4 loss to Nevada Union the day before that set up the pressure cooker finish to the regular season.
Rocklin made no errors with the eight hits Nevada Union had, showing their defensive prowess by also holding them to only three runs, while also forcing Nevada Union to make four errors on Rocklin’s 10 hits.
Granite Bay also had a win over Roseville, putting Rocklin up as league champions alone s they move into playoffs next Tuesday. Rocklin is the two-time Division II champion.
“There wasn’t any pressure, last year we were too worried about winning league and ended up losing, but this year we just went out and played hard and focused on the game at hand and it turned out well for us.” Brian said.
Rocklin moves into playoffs next Thursday, who they play is still to be determined.
“It’s very exciting to win league this year since we didn’t win last year,” said Hosang. “Now in playoffs we’ll just go one game at a time and just play hard.”
The team performed well this year, with a league record of 10-5, and an overall record of 17-9.
“We got better with every game this year, and as we went along, the team’s chemistry also improved from what it was at the beginning of the year,” Hosang said.
With two straight section championships behind them, it will be challenging see if they can add a third to their impressive record in the difficult Division II tournament.