Wright grand slam leads WVC to 8-4 win over Bulldogs

Henry Wright clubs a 6th-inning grand slam
Henry Wright clubs a 6th-inning grand slam

In a battle between a pair of teams fighting for the top spot in the Coast-North, West Valley used the long ball, some timely hitting and a stingy defense to best College of San Mateo 8-4 Saturday at Mission College. The win, WVC's ninth in ten games, improved the Vikings to 17-9 overall and 8-1 in the Coast-north, a game and a half in front of the Bulldogs (15-9, 6-2).

West Valley starter Ryan Sleeman hurled a strong six innings to pick up the win, and got run support from an 11-hit Viking offense. It was a pair of hits, however, that stood out and boosted Sleeman to his fourth win of the season.

The first of those big blasts came from Curran Ozawa-Burns. After Cole Murchison opened the scoring with an RBI ground-out in the bottom of the first, Ozawa-Burns ripped his team-leading ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot to center, for a 3-0 Viking lead after one.

CSM put a run on the board in the top of the third and the game would stay 3-1 until the home half of the sixth, when big hit number two took center stage.

Jacob Dressler roped a one-out single, followed by a Murchison RBI-double, an intentional walk to Ozawa-Burns and a walk to Evan Meier that loaded the bases. Henry Wright sent a 2-1 pitch over the 370-foot sign in right-center for a grand slam and an 8-1 Viking lead they would not surrender.

The Bulldogs scored three in the top of the ninth, but reliever Roman Connolly got John Kane to fly out to Aran Cox in left with runners on second and third to end the game.

Dressler raised his average to a team-high .375 with a 2-4 outing, while Wright finished 2-4 with those four large RBI. Murchison and Ozawa-Burns both had a pair of RBI. Sleeman gave up one run and three hits, and struck out six Bulldogs in six inings of work. The Viking defense rolled three double-plays.

West Valley takes on Coast-South leader Ohlone (24-2, 9-0) March 29 at Mission College. First pitch is 2:30pm.