High school notes: No. 2 Jesuit baseball rolls on road

They have become “Big Red” road warriors.

The Jesuit High School baseball team, ranked second by The Sacramento Bee, has fashioned a 5-1 road record, winning games as close as across town and as far away as Florida.

The road wins have come in Loomis against Del Oro (10-0), Stockton against Lincoln (8-2) and St. Mary’s (5-4), and San Jose against powerhouse programs Valley Christian (8-4) and Bellarmine (7-4).

At neutral-site games, the Marauders are 3-2. They beat Vacaville 8-6 at Raley Field and went 2-2 at the IMG National Classic in Florida.

Jesuit’s more notable home victories have come against preseason NorCal No. 1 De La Salle (9-1) and Pleasant Grove (14-0). The win over Pleasant Grove avenged the Marauders’ only road loss (6-3).

Led by longtime coach Joe Potulny, Jesuit, 12-3 overall, is in a deep Delta League race that includes No. 1 Davis, No. 4 Elk Grove, No. 6 Franklin, No. 11 Sheldon and No. 12 Pleasant Grove. Five Delta teams will make the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

Jack Wolger earned the win against De La Salle, striking out four. Alex Isola, injured early this season, had seven hits, including a home run, and seven RBIs in 13 at-bats last week.

The Marauders have players with baseball lineage. Infielder Nick Sogard is a cousin of Eric Sogard of the A’s and nephew of 1980s Los Angeles Dodgers star Steve Sax, who played at James Marshall High (now River City) in West Sacramento. Sogard had a hit in 13 consecutive at-bats and is hitting .650.

And infielder Darren Baker, the son of Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker, a Del Campo High graduate, remains a threat with his ability to hit, reach base and steal.

Club 100 – Whitney baseball coach Rob Dorchak earned his 100th win in just six seasons when the No. 15 Wildcats beat Oakmont 9-8 in eight innings April 11.

Whitney (12-4) is in a Capital Valley Conference race that includes No. 16 Oakmont, No. 18 Del Campo and Bella Vista.

Aidan Malm is hitting .600 with 13 RBIs for the Wildcats, and Justin Erickson is batting .543 with 13 RBIs.

Expressing a desire to spend more time with his family, Dorchak is considering stepping down after this season.

Optimist stars – The South girls and boys beat the North on Saturday in the 39th Optimist All-Star basketball gamesat Sacramento High.

The South girls won 103-72 as Kiana Moore of Vanden earned MVP honors with nine points and 12 assists. Cassie Pisik of Lincoln earned North MVP honors with 22 points. Also for the South, Lauren Craig of St. Francis had 15 points, Aliceah Hernandez of Sacramento 14 and Danielle Craft of Ponderosa 12.

The South boys prevailed 137-106 as MVP Jordan Ford of Folsom made his first four three-pointers in the first quarter and five overall and finished with 28 points. Also for the South, Christian Terrell of Sacramento scored 16, and Kamren Belden of Pleasant Grove and Isaiah Brooks of Sheldon had 15 points each.

Justin Asuncion of Woodcreek was the North MVP with 20 points. Charlie Tooley of Granite Bay had 16 for the North.

Dale Lacky winners – The Sac-Joaquin Section presented $30,000 in scholarships to 48 winners in the annual Dale Lacky Awards, named after the former section and state CIF president.

The local winner of the $1,500 scholarship was El Camino’s Christine Wiley, a water polo player who has won national awards for honors physiology, agricultural biotechnology and mathematics. She has a 4.46 grade-point average.

The local girls $1,000 scholarship winners were Granite Bay’s Heaven Quintana, who helped the Grizzlies set section swimming records and is a National Honor Society member with a 4.22 GPA, and McClatchy’s Kelsey Wong, a basketball player with a 4.8 GPA who will graduate No. 1 in her class of 542.

The local boys $1,000 winners were Dixon’s Kyle Katzenmeyer, a swimming and water polo star and a Destination Imagination Global finalist with a 4.39 GPA, and Christian Brothers’ Michael Sparks, a cross country and track star and member of the National Honor Society with a 4.35 GPA. The complete list of winners can be found at cifsjs.org.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "High school notes: No. 2 Jesuit baseball rolls on road."