Handy work! Placer freshman keys walk-off win over Roseville

On a roster loaded with talented Division I upperclassmen, the Placer baseball team rode a freshman to victory Saturday night at James Field in Auburn. Down 7-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Placer rallied to its final out. After Sacramento State-bound Myles Meyer began the charge with an RBI single, the Hillmen loaded the bases for freshman second baseman John Handy. Handy drove an 0-1 pitch into the left-field corner and cleared the bases for a walk-off double that gave Placer an 8-7 win over Roseville, its fourth in a row after starting the season 0-2. "I think he was pretty happy," Placer coach Dave Thompson said of Handy. "The kids are really embracing him. They know him pretty well. They were hugging him after the hit. It was a lot of fun. Cowen (Meyer) got a great jump from first. I think he was on third by the time the ball hit the ground." Handy, who was hitless in his first eight varsity at-bats entering Saturday, finished 2-for-4 out of the ninth spot in the order. After UCLA-bound Josh Alger's two-run homer put Roseville up 2-0 in the third, Placer responded with a four-run bottom half. Anson Aroz had an RBI single, Jaden Thomson's groundout scored a run and Meyer's single plated two more to give Placer a 4-2 lead after three. Roseville, which won four of its first five this season, answered with a three-run fourth. Ramon Esparza's RBI single highlighted the inning where the Tigers reclaimed a 5-4 lead. A Dante Strazzullo triple and a Davis Pham single gave the Tigers a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh and set the stage for Placer's comeback. Myles Meyer drove in three runs, Bryce Baughman had three hits and Jake Graham and Carson Seeman combined to strike out seven for Placer. On Friday, the Hillmen blanked Del Campo 5-0 behind strong outings from Myles Meyer (three innings, one hit, no runs, three strikeouts), Thomson (one inning, no hits, one strikeout) and Martin Haswell (three innings, two hits, no runs, five strikeouts). Thomson's RBI double capped a five-run third and was one of only two hits needed for Placer to beat Del Campo. "I feel pretty good where we're at," Thompson said. "We're competing every game. The first game against Granite Bay, we didn't compete. We had a deer-in-the-headlights type of thing." With its roster mostly at full strength now, Placer is scheduled to play large-school heavies at Oak Ridge on Tuesday, at home against Del Oro on Friday and against Cosumnes Oaks, who entered the week as MaxPreps' top-ranked California team, on Saturday. "We've got nothing else to play for but to play the big dogs and see what we can do," Thompson said. Bruins' bats key win against Wheatland Bear River busted out with a 10-3 win over Wheatland in its 2021 debut Friday. The Bruins were led by Sacramento State-bound Colby Lunsford, who was 2-for-3 with a double, triple, an RBI, three runs and two stolen bases. In addition to Lunsford, Bear River had five players with at least two hits, including Tyler Neuharth (three RBIs), Nick Baltz (two RBIs), Devin Ortiz (RBI), Brennan Schad and Daniel Bamburg (two RBI). Bamburg also tossed five innings, allowing four hits and one earned run with five strikeouts. Freshman Ethan Tague struck out five in two relief innings for the Bruins, who host Foresthill on Thursday. Colfax crashes Marysville for first PVL win Colfax improved to 5-1 overall while grabbing its first Pioneer Valley League win at Marysville on Monday. Down 4-3, the Falcons scored three in the top of the fifth on a two-run error and a sacrifice fly from Noah Souza to make it 6-4. Colfax added four in the top of the seventh on another two-run error and a two-run single from Nolan Mulay. Chase Pfeifer struck out two in a scoreless seventh to close out Anthony Packard's strong start (six innings, eight hits, four earned runs, seven strikeouts) in the 10-4 win. Mulay, Michealangelo Taylor and Diego Perez each had two hits for the Falcons.