Wheatland sophomore Jaxon Becker tosses a pitch on May 6 during the Pirates' win against El Dorado. Photo by Chris Pedigo

 

YUBA-SUTTER, CA (YSBC) - The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Baseball playoffs completed the first two rounds of play last week and our area had five teams make the field. Here’s how they performed.

Sac-Joaquin Section Division III

River Valley

The Falcons drew the No. 15 seed and traveled to Folsom on Wednesday as they played against Vista Del Lago in the SJS D-III bracket.

River Valley began the 2026 season with an 11-1 loss and fell once again to the Eagles 9-1.

Falcons head coach Rob McMains told Yuba Sutter Butte Colusa Sports that they played hard and their defense was better, but VDL was a great team.

River Valley senior Gonzalo Tavares tossed three innings and was relieved in the fourth after he hit the first hitter of the inning. Tavares was charged with giving up seven runs off five hits and walked 11.

Falcons junior Alfonso Lopez and senior Matthew Martin recorded the lone two hits for River Valley in the loss.

Yuba City senior Brody Miller (1) connects for a hit in his final at-bat in Honkers’ uniform during the 4-1 loss to Christian Brothers on May 8. Photo by Steven Bryla

Yuba City

The Honkers were given the No. 4 seed in the Division III bracket and won their first-round matchup with a 5-0 victory over Fairfield on May 6.

Yuba City senior Brody Miller tossed a dominant two-hit shutout on the mound.

The Honkers were led by junior Max Guth and senior Kyler Oberlinen with a pair of hits in the win.

Yuba City hosted Christian Brothers on May 8 and the Falcons knocked off the defending D-III champs with a 4-1 victory.

Honkers junior pitcher locked down the Christian Brothers lineups in the first two innings, but after a couple of defensive miscues in the third inning, the Falcons pushed two runs across in the third.

Yuba City failed to push a run across in the first as they had runners on second and third with one out.

Once Christian Brothers took the lead in the third, their dugout support of chatter clearly was the defining factor that overtook the game.

Guizar pitched 4 ⅔ in the loss and only surrendered two hits during his stint, but he had a hard time trying to find the strike zone in the constant-moving strike zone.

The Honkers didn’t have trouble hitting the ball off Falcons senior Madden Williams, but Christian Brothers defense made great-defensive plays all over the field to silence the Yuba City hitters.

Honkers junior Josh Dalpoggetto pitched great in the final two innings to give Yuba City a chance for a comeback win.

Miller singled in his last at-bat of his career and scored the lone run after junior infielder Max Guth hit a run-batted-in (RBI) single in the seventh.

Sac-Joaquin Division V

Marysville

The Indians entered the Division V playoffs as the No. 13 seed and upset the No. 4 seed Woodland Christian in their first-round matchup on May 6.

Marysville had a trio of sluggers that had a pair of hits off of the Cardinals in the win (Julien Johnson, Antonio Torrez and Chevy Zacharopoulous).

The Indians set up a second-round matchup against Pioneer Valley League rival Wheatland.

Marysville was swept by the Pirates during the regular season and were a different club then when they played a month prior.

The Indians struggled against the pitching of Wheatland as the senior Taegan Jung was the lone Marysville hit and brought in the only run for the Indians in the loss.

Johnson and Torrez pitched and couldn’t overcome the confident hitting the Pirates displayed.

Wheatland junior Hughston Rodney (2) blast a home run in the second inning of the Pirates’ 11-1 victory against Marysville on May 8. Photo by Chris Pedigo

Wheatland

The Pirates were given the No. 5 seed in the D-V bracket and it took 10 innings to outlast El Dorado in the first round on May 6.

Wheatland freshman infielder Israel Cortez delivered the game winner with a sacrifice fly that brought in senior Cole Rohleder home from third for the victory.

Sophomore Jaxon Becker pitched three-clutch innings on the mound as he struck out seven before senior Chase Barton came in and kept the dominance on the hill for the final-four outs.

The Pirates hosted Marysville on May 8 for the opportunity to play in the three-game semifinals of the bracket and Wheatland quickly made it no question that they wanted to move on in the playoffs.

Pirates junior Hughston Rodney blasted a lead-off home run in the second and opened the flood gates for a six-run inning.

Wheatland added four more in the fourth capped aided by four hits for a nine-run lead.

The Pirates walked it off in the fifth after junior Ezekiel Gutierrez hit an RBI single to move onto the semifinals.

Wheatland will host Escalon on Tuesday, May 11 in the three-game series for the chance to get to their first SJS section final.

Escalon upset No. 1 seed Lincoln on May 8 with a 5-4 win.

Sutter

The Huskies earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and easily took care of Union Mine on May 6.

Sutter cruised to an early 6-0 lead in the second inning and senior pitcher Aiden Zzwissig was dominant on the mound for the complete-game victory.

Zzwissig allowed four hits and struck out six in the win.

The Huskies hosted Hughson on May 8 and junior pitcher Devin Murphy pitched a gem for the Huskies 3-0 victory.

Murphy tossed 77 pitches total in the win and told YSBC the plan was to dominate on the mound. He gave up five hits overall and was relentless with getting ahead of the hitters early on with first-pitch strikes.

Sutter junior pitcher Devin Murphy (14) picked up his eighth victory of the 2026 season on May 8 in a 3-0 shutout victory over Hughson. Photo by Steven Bryla

Sutter junior catcher Landyn Singh led the Huskies with two hits in the win including two RBIs.

Sutter ended Hughson’s season for the third time in the last four years and it sets up a matchup against Woodland in the semifinal series.

The Wolves swept the Huskies in the first Golden Empire League series in March and both squads have rolled through their completion since then.

Sutter head coach Stewart Peterson told YSBC that he expects a battle and the key is to just play good and clean baseball.

The Huskies will travel to Woodland for the first game of the series on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled at 4 p.m.

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