Ohlone Baseball Feasts On Gavilan Pitching In Sweep

There’s nothing but green lights for the Ohlone College baseball team these days.
The Renegades (17-5, 3-0 Coast-Pacific) extended their winning streak to seven with three convincing wins over Gavilan last week and find themselves in a familiar spot atop the conference.
In an 8-1 win over Gavilan to complete the series sweep on March 16, former Kennedy High star Andrew Amato, a sophomore right-hander, improved his pitching record to a sterling 5-0, allowing four hits and a run over seven innings, striking out five.
Zach Patterson powered the offense with a double, triple and three RBI. Michael Gallagher and Luke O’Brien had doubles and Matt Benavidez stroked two hits.
The Renegades then enjoyed a much-deserved postgame dinner at Mimi’s Café in Gilroy (via a Twitter report).
In a 12-3 win over Gavilan on March 12, the Renegades hammered out 16 hits and broke the game open with three big rallies, scoring four in the second, four in the sixth and three in the seventh. O’Brien set the tone with a three-run single in the second. Patterson had a two-run shot in the sixth. Justin Clark, who had three RBI, and Dalton Vanhille both had three hits. Tyler Stultz picked up the pitching win, allowing three hits and no runs over 6.0 innings. He fanned five and walked none.
Ohlone next walloped Gavilan 10-1 as Patterson went into Beast Mode from the plate. He socked a grand slam in the first inning – his seventh Big Fly of the season -- and a two-run single in the second. He was 4 for 5 with a homer, double and six RBI. Brett Tressen and O’Brien each had two hits and Clark walked twice and scored three times. Peter Van Loon picked up his sixth pitching win with five shutout innings.
STATE STATUS: Van Loon (6-2, 2.45 ERA) is tied for the state lead in wins, one spot ahead of Amato (5-0, 2.67 ERA). With seven home runs, Patterson is one out of the state lead. He’s eighth in RBI with 29 and sixth in batting average at .424. He’s No. 2 in the state in slugging percentage (.788).
DIVISION I DANDY: Former Ohlone All-American Thad Phillips has kept it rolling at Connecticut. He entered the week batting .318 with a .591 slugging percentage for the Huskies (11-6).
SOFTBALL
The Renegades (10-11, 2-2) split games last week, dropping a 9-1 decision to rival College of San Mateo on March 14 after crushing Mission 21-0 on March 12, both in Coast-North play. Nikki Thornton scored Ohlone’s lone run against the Bulldogs.
Brooke Niewoehner delivered a crusher course from the plate against Mission. She was 4 for 4 with two doubles, six RBI and four runs scored. Lauryn Garcia (2 for 4) slugged a home run and had four RBI. Arrianna Whitlock was 3 for 3 with a double and four RBI. Catcher Jess Marty had a big game with two triples, a double and two RBI.