Local Baseball

Bad weather led to several games being canceled or postponed recently; however, the high school baseball season has returned to full swing with the beginning of league games. Here is a summary of the current status for the teams we are following this spring:

Bear River Bruins: After posting their sixth consecutive win on Wednesday, 3/19, shutting out the East Nicolaus Spartans 5-0, the Bruins lost for the first time this season when the Oakmont Vikings overscored them 3-0 on 3/20. Yesterday, after our deadline, the 6-1 Bruins traveled to face the 6-2 Lincoln Fighting Zebras. This afternoon, 3/27, the Bruins will be at home to meet up with the Fighting Zebras in another Pioneer Valley League game. The results of these contests will be reported in our 4/3 edition.

Chester Volcanos: After hosting the Quincy Trojans on 3/25 and losing 7-23, the Volcanos carried a 3-3 won-loss record into yesterday’s away game against the 3-2 Portola Tigers. The results of this game and the result from the Volcanos’ 4/1 contest on the road with the currently 2-5 Burney Raiders will appear in next week’s paper.

Colfax Falcons: After taking a 5-2 record into last week’s two-game series against the Lincoln Fighting Zebras, the Falcons’ had a 5-4 record when they played the 1-9-1 Marysville Indians after our paper’s deadline. In our next edition, we will report the results of this game, plus the results of their 3/28 game against Marysville and 3/31 contest with the Center Cougars of Antelope.

Lassen Grizzlies: This past week, the Grizzlies beat the Durham Tigers twice, 5-1 and 5-4, at home and traveled to Oroville for a 5-2 victory over the Las Plumas Thunderbirds. Before our next edition, the team will play the Thunderbirds again and begin a two-game series with the 5-4-1 University Prep of Redding.

Loyalton Grizzlies: During their first three games of the season, Loyalton’s Grizzlies lost close contests against the Quincy Trojans, 5-6, and the Mt. Shasta Bears, 2-3, before edging out the Portola Tigers, 2-0. Next, the team played a doubleheader on 3/11 against the Biggs Wolverines, winning another nail-biter in the first game by the score of 4-3 and being blown out in the second match, 5-15. So, they will take a 2-3 record into the tournament they’ll participate in tomorrow and Saturday.

Modoc Braves: Since our last edition, the Braves collected victories over the Quincy Trojans (4-3), Biggs Wolverines (8-3), and Loyalton Grizzlies (8-3) to build a 6-1 won-loss record and raise their MaxPrep ranking within California to 213th. Yesterday, after our deadline, the Braves played two games against the Plumas Charter Warriors (ranked 780th with a 3-5 record), and the Braves are likely to see their ranking go up again.

Nevada Union Miners: Since our 3/20 edition, the Miners lost four Foothill Valley League (FVL) games, three to the Del Campo Cougars and one to the Placer Hillmen. Thus, the slumping Miners - shutout in their last two games - are now sixth in the FVL standings, and their once-promising chances for winning their league’s championship have dimmed significantly.

Placer Hillmen: Over the past week, the Hillmen edged out league wins over the Roseville Tigers and Nevada Union Miners, 4-2 and 3-0, respectively. Thus, the Hillmen are now in fourth place within the FVL and will need to sweep their two games this week against the Miners to stay in contention for the FVL title.

Plumas Charter Warriors: After beating the Biggs Wolverines (6-5) on 3/20 and losing to the Hamilton Braves (2-4) on 3/22, the Warriors faced the strong Modoc Braves team yesterday (after our deadline). Then, on Friday, 3/28, the team will take on the much weaker Fall River Bulldogs. Oddsmakers say their current 3-5 won-loss record will be 4-7 by the time our next edition is published.

Portola Tigers: Yesterday afternoon, 3/26, the Tigers hosted the Chester Volcanos, and on Friday, 3/28, the team will travel to play the Virginia City Muckers. While the Tigers and Volcanos appear to be evenly matched, the Tiger’s 15-0 victory over the Muckers on 3/1 makes Portola the favorite on Friday.

Quincy Trojans: Since our last report, the Trojans outscored the Plumas Charter Warriors (8-4), lost a heartbreaker to the Modoc Braves (4-3), and pummeled the Chester Volcanos (23-7). Before next week’s edition of the paper, the now 6-3 Trojans will host the Hamilton Braves for two games on 3/31 and travel to Nevada for a doubleheader against the Dayton Dust Devils on 4/1. Neither of these opponents is weak. So, the Trojans will be happy to finish the week with a 9-4 record.

Truckee Wolverines: Having upset the Wooster Colts by a score of 8-5 in Reno on 3/19, the Wolverines went on to smash the Sparks Railroaders 13-0 and 15-1 on 3/22 and brought their season’s won-loss record to 5-5. In our next paper, you will see the results of the Wolverines’ game against the Railroaders on 3/26 and their two contests with the South Tahoe Vikings on 3/29. Given the records of these teams, the odds of the Wolverines going to an 8-5 season record are good.