Four Roseville baseball teams alive in semifinals

Four Roseville area baseball teams have reached the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. While Granite Bay and Woodcreek were eliminated in the second round on Friday, Granite Bay losing to Davis, 8-6, and Woodcreek falling to Del Oro, 7-5, Oakmont, West Park, Roseville and Valley Christian will continue to play next week. Oakmont, the top seed in the Division III bracket, got by Pioneer, 3-2, on Friday, as Oakmont scored three runs on only two hits, but won it with small ball and capitalizing on errors and wild pitches offensively, while CJ Smith came into the game with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second and struck out the last batter of the game on three pitches. Oakmont will advance to play fifth-seeded Central Catholic in a best-of-three series beginning Monday at Oakmont. West Park, the No. 2 seed in Division III, also had a hard-fought 10-9 win over Manteca. West Park led 7-3 after four innings, but Manteca made it 7-5 after scoring two runs in the fifth inning. The Buffaloes then scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 9-7 lead, before the Panthers scored three in the bottom of the sixth to win it, 10-9. With two out, two on and two strikes on him, Jayden McNeal hit a three-run home run to put the Panthers up 10-9. In the top of the seventh, Manteca put runners on second and third before David Ortez struck out the last two batters swinging to end the game. West Park will begin a best-of-three series against Yuba City beginning Monday at West Park. In Roseville, the Tigers, the third seed in Division IV, scored three runs in the first and second innings to take a 6-0 lead and held on to beat Sierra, 8-3. Colton Wolfe had two RBIs, and Kyle Pettersen and Austin Chang both scored two runs in the win. The Tigers will begin a best-of-three series against Oakdale beginning on Monday. Valley Christian, the No. 3 seed in Division VII, ripped Delta on Thursday, 19-0, in five innings. Jack Grexton threw a no-hitter and struck out 11 in the win. Grexton was also the hitting star of the day, as he had three hits, scored a run and drove in six. Loudon Carter had three hits, scored three runs and knocked in three, while Joshua Goff had one hit, scored two times and knocked in three. Domminic Eyster also had three hits and scored three times, while Jeremiah Pritchard had a hit and scored three runs. Valley Christian will begin a best-of-three series against Vacaville Christian on Monday on the road.