The Visalia Rawhide improved to 14-3 with a hard-fought 4-0 win over Stockton on Saturday night. The win maintained the four-game lead for Visalia over second-place Bakersfield, who also won. It was the seventh-straight victory for the Rawhide.
Meanwhile, the South division got crowded at the top with a Lancaster win and a Rancho Cucamonga loss that knotted them up with identical 10-7 records. And Inland Empire sits just a half-game back on the heels of having their game with High Desert suspended due to rain.
Visalia and Stockton played scoreless baseball until the bottom of the seventh inning as Stockton’s RHP Dylan Covey (A’s #19 prospect per Baseball America) and Visalia righty Zack Godley stymied any scoring efforts. Covey had base runners, allowing five walks along with two hits over six innings, but none crossed the plate. Godley threw seven innings of two-hit ball and got the win to improve to 4-0 when the Rawhide broke through in the bottom of the seventh while he was still the pitcher of record.
The single run in the seventh broke the deadlock and Visalia rallied for three in the ninth to ice the win. Daniel Gibson and Silvino Bracho nailed it down with a scoreless inning apiece.
In the South, the Quakes dropped a 5-1 decision to Lake Elsinore and Lancaster pushed a run across in the bottom of the eighth to earn a 5-4 win over Modesto. The combination forced a tie atop the division as both Rancho and Lancaster are now 10-7. The rain event in San Bernardino left the 66ers a half game back at 9-7. The game against High Desert was halted after one inning and will resume at 1PM, followed by the regularly scheduled game 30 minutes after this game’s conclusion.
