Yolo's Jake Berlin waits for the ball as Fair Oaks' Jon Lang dives back into first on a fifth inning pickoff attempt in the Oaks 8-5 victory over Post 77. Photo by Joe Blenkle

Fair Oaks 8, Yolo 5 (League: 4-1, Overall: 10-4-1) - June 10 @ Bella Vista High, Fair Oaks - As they did in their first meeting of the year, Fair Oaks Post 383 dominated Yolo in Game No. 2 of their season series, beating the Woodland team 8-5 at Bella Vista High School.

    The Oaks ran up an 8-1 lead before Post 77 came back to score four runs in the eighth and make a game of it, but the contest was pretty much over in the fifth when the Oaks expanded a 2-1 advantage by six runs for their biggest lead of the game.

    Post 383 went up 2-0 in the second inning off Yolo starter Corey MacDonald as designated hitter Chris Harms led off with a double to right center field. Third baseman Taylor Sanders followed with a hit to center to move Harms to third and then Harms scored on a bunt by left fielder Branden Lang to make it a 1-0 game. With one out and  catcher Shawn Wheeler at the plate, Sanders, who had moved to second on the bunt, drew a throw after Wheeler lined the ball to third. The ball missed its mark, however and went into right field and Sanders came all the way around to score to make it 2-0.

    Yolo made it a 2-1 game in the fourth after two were out. Oaks starter Josh Paige walked Yolo catcher Josh Ryan, who then scored on a double by right fielder Aaron Hansen.

    The Oaks came back in the next inning, however, to put six more runs on the board to take and 8-1 lead. Post 383 right fielder Jon Lang led off with a walk and with first baseman Ryan Hall at the plate, moved to second on a balk. Hall got a hit to right to move Lang to third and a ground ball back to the pitcher  by shortstop Andrew Gutierrez allowed him to score to make it 3-1. Harms followed with a walk which resulted in a Yolo pitching change as Cachet Duncan replaced MacDonald on the mound. Duncan promptly gave up a hit to Sanders to load the bases and then Branden Lang hit a ball back to the pitcher that Duncan couldn't pick up and both Hall and Harms came home to make it a 5-1 game. The next batter, Wheeler, lined the ball into the right field corner to bring in Sanders and Lang for a 7-1 lead. After a walk to center fielder Ryan Dettman, second baseman Josh Britt came to the plate. Dettman stole second and the throw from the catcher went into center field allowing Dettman to move to third and Wheeler to score ahead of him to make it 8-1. The Oaks may have scored more except for an unusual double play that ended the inning. Britt popped the ball to second for the second out and Dettman charged for home trying to score but was thrown out at the plate on a close play.

    Paige continued to pitch strongly into the seventh when he struck out the side to tally his eighth strikeout of the game. He was replaced on the mound by Brian Kennedy in the eighth which apparently redefined the word "relief" for the Yolo team. Kennedy got two easy outs and then Yolo strung together five hits and a walk to score four runs and close the gap to 8-5. Kennedy struck out the next batter, however, to end the inning and the threat.

    The Oaks managed one base runner in the bottom of the inning, but did not score and Kennedy came back in the top of the ninth to get Yolo out in order and end the game.

Yolo Post 77: Pitching - MacDonald, Duncan (5), Murray (6), Navarro (8) and Ryan. Top Hitters - Castaneda 2x4, 2B.
Fair Oaks: Pitching - Paige, Kennedy (8) and Wheeler. Top Hitters - Haley 3B; Harms 2x3, 2B; Sanders 2x3; Wheeler 3B, 2 RBI.