Will Dugoni to Loyola Marymount University

Will Dugoni

Congratulations to 18U Golden Era player who will be moving on to play his college baseball at Loyola Marymount University in Southern California.

Jonathon Lewis to University of Pacific

Jonathon Lewis

Congrats to Jonathon Lewis, 'J-Lew", who will be continuing his baseball days at University of Pacific.

Jordan Durrance Throws a Perfect Game!

ARTICLE FROM SACRAMENTO BEE FOR GOLDEN ERA 18U PITCHER, JORDAN DURRANCE

 GALT — Sierra pitcher Jordan Durrance knew he was tinkering with perfection midway through the fourth inning Tuesday.

So did his teammates.

With nine outs separating Durrance from program history, an eerie hush fell over the Sierra dugout. The baseball chatter stopped and Durrance, a soft-spoken senior, drifted off onto an island.

The silence was deafening.

“Things got pretty quiet,” he said. “Everything stopped. I think they knew. “After the fourth, going into the fifth, I realized it was possible. I tried to keep it out of my mind. I was in zone.”

Was he ever.

Durrance struck out 12 batters in his first-ever perfect game and helped his own cause with an RBI single in the seventh as the Timberwolves rolled to a 4-0 non-league win at Galt. Sierra pounded out seven hits, and held a 3-0 lead after five.

Brandon Proctor roped a two-run single in the fourth, and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth stretched the Timberwolves’ lead to three. It was all the run support Durrance needed. 

And he didn’t need much.

The lanky left-hander threw just 84 pitches and only found himself behind in the count twice. Each time, he roared back with a strikeout. “It was very exciting. I was really happy for Jordan,” Sierra coach Jack Thomson said. “He threw three pitches for a strike and worked ahead in the count. When you do that, you’re pitching.

“Afterwards, I told (the team) we witnessed something pretty special. This doesn’t happen very often.”

It was a first for Thomson, who has coached Manteca-area high schools for 28 seasons. A few had come close.

Robby Woods was the closest. In 1986, when Thomson roamed the dugout as Manteca High’s skipper, Woods came within one out of perfection.

Then it happened.

With two outs in the seventh, and after retiring the first 20 batters he had faced, Woods issued a walk.

He settled for a no-hitter. Durrance, on the other hand, wouldn’t be denied his first perfect game — as nerve-racking as it was. “I was battling,” he said. Second baseman Jake Rovig solidified the feat with a putout on a sharply hit ground ball.

Sierra's Durrance is perfect