Wolves beat DLS ace

Motivation is the key to beating any team when you are going against their ace and San Ramon Valley channeled its motivation on Friday to beat De La Salle by a score of 6-2.

Junior Spartan pitcher, Justin Hooper, who is one of 36 players invited to the Under Armour Game, was taken out after just three innings. He gave up two earned runs and walked four, before leaving the game due to a high pitch count.

The Wolves scored two in the third and two in the fourth to give themselves a 4-2 lead over the Spartans. Ryan Weisenberg's double gave them the lead and they did not look back from there.

Pitching woes plagued De La Salle throughout the game, with the bases loaded, San Ramon's Alex Tsuruda was hit by a pitch and catcher Nate Kanat was walked to give SRV a commanding 6-2 lead. Connor Neumann was brought in to shut the door for the Wolves and he did just that as the Spartans would not score off him.

It was an average day for the Spartans at the plate. Seniors Chris Williams and Austin Dondanville both had two hits and an RBI on the day.

This loss is in some ways dismantling for De La Salle, which was coming off of a 7-0 win over Monte Vista, as it creates a three-way tie across the East Bay Athletic League standings between Cal, San Ramon, and De La Salle. With all three teams at an 8-4 record in league play heading into the last two games on their respective schedules. With De La Salle playing Cal and San Ramon playing league rival Monte Vista, the EBAL championship could go to either of the three teams.