By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
The Napa Valley College baseball team continued its season, with nonconference games against Sierra College-Rocklin and De Anza College-Cupertino. A look at the most recent games:
* In a game on Feb. 20, in Rocklin, the Storm lost 12-4 to Sierra.
Napa Valley struck out 12 times, left four runners on base, and was charged with two errors. Sierra scored four runs in the first inning, one run in the third inning, and seven runs in the seventh inning.
Napa Valley's top hitters were William Tokar, who was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs; Christian Hernandez, who was 2-for-3 with a double; Peyton McGowen, who was 1-for-4 with a double; Vincent Lencioni, who was 1-for-4 with an RBI; Cole Van Stone, who was 1-for-3; and Owen Nelson, who had an RBI.
Napa Valley's pitching allowed 12 earned runs and walked 10 batters.
Kyle Worden started and took the loss after pitching five innings. Diego Balderas Utrera and Nigel Clay pitched in relief.
Tokar had a two-run double in the seventh inning.
Lencioni had a run-scoring single in the eighth inning.
* In a game on Feb. 22, in Cupertino, the Storm had 18 hits, but lost to De Anza, 16-13.
Six players had multiple-hit games for Napa Valley, which left 12 runners on base and struck out nine times.
Tokar was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.
Raisean Avila-Dorsey was 2-for-6 with a double and four RBIs.
Lencioni was 4-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.
Nelson was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Connor Ray was 2-for-5.
McGowen was 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Also, with hits were Hernandez, 1-for-5 with a double; Forrest Kistner, 1-for-1 with an RBI; and Stone, 1-for-5 with an RBI.
McGowen had two stolen bases.
Napa Valley had two errors.
Napa Valley jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the third inning. The Storm scored five runs in the ninth inning.
Lencioni had an RBI single in the first inning.
Tokar homered to left field in the second inning.
Also, in the second inning, Avila-Dorsey drove in a run with a single to left field and Lencioni doubled to right field, driving in two runs.
In the ninth inning, Avila-Dorsey had a three-run double to right field, Kistner singled to left field, plating a run, and Nelson had a sacrifice fly RBI.
NVC pitching allowed 14 earned runs and walked five.
Seth Vazquez started and went six innings. Jameson Hogarth and Khyler Cabebe pitched in relief.
* In a game on Feb. 24, in Cupertino, Napa Valley lost to De Anza, 12-2.
NVC was held to two hits, struck out 16 times, left eight runners on base, and made two errors.
The Storm's only hits in the game were from Avila-Dorsey, who was 1-for-3, and McGowen, who was 1-for-4 with a double. Tokar had an RBI.
NVC pitching allowed 10 hits and 10 earned runs, walked eight and struck out seven.
Samuel Anderson started and went five innings. Clay and Hogarth pitched in relief.
NVC is 0-11 on the season.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.