Casa Grande clinches NBL baseball championship

Casa Grande clinched the North Bay League baseball championship Friday afternoon with a 14-3 clubbing of Maria Carrillo’s Pumas in a game played in Santa Rosa.

Perhaps appropriately, four-year varsity veteran Spencer Torkelson led the title-clinching win with another huge game, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored. He aslo drove in a run and stole a base.

Dylan Moore went his teammate one hit better, going 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk.

AJ Miller had three hits, scored three runs and knocked in three. Hance Smith and Eddie Bermudez each had two hits, with Smith driving home two runs and Bermudez three.

Casa had 18 hits in the game.

Casa Grande scored three runs in the first inning; by the end of two frames, it was 8-0.

Chris Joaquim breezed through five pitching innings, giving up one unearned run on three hits, while walking just one and striking out seven.

Broc Burleson allowed a hit and an unearned run in one inning, and Quinton Gago gave up a hit and a run in one frame.

Casa Grande is 11-1 in North Bay League play, with a three-game lead over second-place Maria Carrillo. The Gauchos are 17-4 overall going into a Wednesday game at Rancho Cotate, where coach Paul Maytorena could reach the 400-win plateau.

Torkelson blast

Torkelson crashed a three-run home run over the left-field fence to power the Gauchos to a 5-2 victory over Ukiah earlier in the week. The home run was Torkelson’s sixth of the season.

Parker Ruoff, with help from two relievers, shut down the hard-hitting Wildcats on three hits. Ruoff went 4? innings, giving up the three hits, while striking out nine. The only run he allowed was unearned.

Nik Kamages allowed a run in 1? innings before Smith came on to finish out the game, allowing no hits with a strikeout in one inning. The save was his fourth of the season. Smith also doubled and singled.