Errors and lost opportunities came back to haunt Sierra in its first-place showdown with Oakdale on Friday.

Sophomore Bryce Kirk went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, including the one-out double in the bottom of the seventh inning that vaulted the host Mustangs to a 4-3 victory.

The Timberwolves (8-2, 14-5-1 overall) settle for a series split this week as they again share the Valley Oak League lead with Oakdale (8-2, 12-8). Manteca and Central Catholic both trail by two games.

All things considered, Sierra head coach Jack Thomson likes where his club stands with four regular-season games left over the next two weeks.

“Knowing that our basketball team was going deep into their season I did like the way our (VOL) schedule was set up,” Thomson said. “We opened with Central Catholic, Manteca and East Union; our first six games really scared me because I knew we were not going to be at full strength. We were able to get through that to get to where we’re at.

“Obviously, we had our chances to win today and it’s frustrating, but in the big picture we still control our own destiny.  It’s like I told the guys, it’s nice to be at the end of the year and not have to look at the scoreboard. We just have to take care of ourselves.”

One of those latecomers from the basketball season is Jakob Gallagher, who continued his strong start to the season Friday. He did well to push through five innings despite three errors committed behind him. He struck out six and surrendered four hits, two walks and two runs — both unearned.

“We extended a couple innings for him because we didn’t make plays behind him,” Thomson said. “He was able to pitch out of a couple jams but he had to throw a few extra pitches.”

Sierra staked an early 3-1 lead and posted all of its runs in the second inning. Hunter Johnson laced a double to plate Gallagher, and Ryan Bergman drove in two with his own two-bagger.

The Timberwolves had chances to pad the lead but left four runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Oakdale scored once in the bottom of the sixth and set up Kirk’s deciding two-run knock with a leadoff walk from Nolen Legen and a single by Logan Hall in the seventh.

“It was a great game, we just didn’t play well enough to beat a good team,” Thomson said. “We had opportunities with one and two out to give ourselves a 4-2 or 5-2 lead. At some point in time in big games we need to get a big hit.”

Sierra heads to Lathrop next Wednesday and ends the regular season against Weston Ranch in two weeks.

Manteca 11, Lathrop 6

A seven-run scoring binge in the third inning gave Manteca (6-4, 12-9) a 9-1 cushion, but the visiting Spartans (1-9, 4-14) went down swinging and avoided the mercy rule.

“We did a good job of putting pressure on early but need to learn how to put a team away,” Manteca coach Neil MacDannald said.”

The Buffaloes outhit Lathrop 12-6 but committed four errors. Ronaldo Tijero went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two runs. Jake Menasco (three runs, three RBIs) and Greg Jones (three RBIs) were each 2 for 2. David Gonzalez and Keenan Donatelli (two RBIs) both hit 2 for 4 for Lathrop.

Tyler Graves-Kelso, who was 2 for 4 offensively, pitched 4 2/3 innings for the win. Devin Sullivan threw 2 1/3 hitless innings in relief.

Central Catholic 2,
East Union 0

In Modesto, Central Catholic’s Brad Nightengale fired 11 strikeouts, walked two and hit a batter in a dominant two-hitter. He outdueled Lucas Garcia, who needed just 74 pitches to go the distance while striking out four and giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and a walk.

The hard-luck Lancers (3-7, 4-16) once again came up empty-handed in a competitive ballgame. They had a chance at the end to possibly extend the game. Jake Graves was hit by a pitch, Marco Gonzales followed with a base hit and a sacrifice bunt set the club up with runners in scoring position and one out. Nightengale struck out a batter and induced a flyball to right to seal the win for the Raiders (6-4, 12-9), who scored their runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

“It was a really well-played game on both sides we just came out on the short end,” East Union coach Dan Triglia said. “One area we need to improve on is at the plate. We didn’t put the ball in play s much as we would like.