April 10, 2024

Depth, experience and -- most of all -- talent.

Those three words are an accurate description of the Hughson varsity baseball team, which has relied on its potent offense and overpowering pitching to race a 15-2 record this season despite a demanding non-conference lineup of tough opponents.

“We purposely made the schedule harder this year,” said eighth-year Coach Charly Garza. “We added different opponents we haven’t had -- Manteca, Buhach Colony, Colfax, Tokay -- so we’d be more battle-tested. Our goal wasn’t to go undefeated and not to play anyone who wouldn’t challenge us.”

Mission accomplished, so far. Hughson’s only losses came to Manteca in the third game of the season and Trans-Valley League rival Escalon two weeks ago. Other than those games, the Huskies have been rolling. Included in that success is a title in last week’s Oakdale Tournament, where the Huskies’ abundance of quality pitching was on full display.

“Our pitching is deep,” Garza acknowledged. “The fun part about the Oakdale Tournament is that we purposely didn’t pitch our top three pitchers,” referring to starters Caleb Wilson and Max Mankins and closer Paul Wagner.

Instead, Hughson started Carlos Guizar, normally the first baseman, against Central Valley and he responded with five innings. Bryce McDaniel started against Downey and didn’t allow a run, with Dominic Aguiar throwing the final two innings of a 1-0 Hughson victory. Turlock Christian transfer Andrew Fisher got the call against Oakdale and combined with sophomore Isaac Lupercio in the Huskies’ 7-1 win in the championship game.

“We used guys who’ve been throwing against their teammates in practice and they showed us a lot,” complimented Garza. “It was very, very encouraging for us as a coaching staff to see kids’ hard work is paying off.”

That kind of depth is a luxury most teams don’t have, nor do most teams have two frontline starters like Wilson (4-0, 51 strikeouts in 37.2 innings) and Mankins (4-0, 31 Ks in 19.2 innings) to pair with an elite closer like Wagner (27 Ks in 13.2 innings).

Wilson and Mankins – who is recovering from a dislocated middle finger on his pitching hand suffered while playing third base – are lined up to face first-place Ripon in next week’s home and away TVL showdown. Hughson (5-1) and Ripon (5-0) shared the league title two years ago; last year Ripon was first and the Huskies second.

“Ripon is tough. They’re a good team,” Garza said.

Offensively, Hughson doesn’t appear to have any holes. The Huskies are stacked, so much so that their leading hitter for average – senior left fielder Blaine Fusi (.422) – often bats sixth in the lineup. Wagner sports a .411 average with 21 runs scored, two homers and 19 RBIs; Guizar is at .385, with 17 runs and 18 RBIs; J.P. Lupercio is at .373, with 22 runs; and Wilson has four homers and 22 RBIs after hitting the weight room in the offseason.

Against Oakdale last week in the title game, it was the eighth and ninth hitters (Eric Aranda and Bryce McDaniel) who combined for five hits to spark the attack. In Tuesday’s 8-5 non-league win over Golden Valley in Merced, Beau Blake – another Turlock Christian transfer -- had three hits and knocked in three runs. In four games, he’s hitting .455.

“We have a good-hitting team,” Garza said. “The kids worked hard on their hitting approaches and hitting with two strikes. When your whole team takes that approach, you can get a few more hits per game. It’s worked well for us so far.”

As the final three weeks of the regular season loom, Hughson appears poised to battle with Ripon and Escalon for the TVL title. After that, the Huskies’ goals are to have a high seed and at least one home game in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs and, hopefully, compete for that elusive Section title. Hughson has lost in the finals and semifinals the past two seasons.

“We’ve got players who’ve been on the varsity since they were freshmen and sophomores,” Garza said. “They’re very mature. We re-evaluated our goals at midseason, but we don’t talk about them much. The idea is to try to take the pressure off and let the kids have fun.”