Gridley High School baseball team players in the dugout. Photo by Jennifer Corriea

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley Bulldogs baseball team started their season in the Colusa Mike West Invitational where they faced the Durham Trojans, Winter Warriors, and the Colusa Redhawks.

On Friday, March 7, the Bulldogs faced off against the Durham Trojans. In the first inning, the bats were flowing for both the Trojans and Bulldogs, both of which scored runs. The inning ended with the Trojans leading 3-2 and nobody scored again until the third inning when the Trojans scored two more runs.

Both the Bulldogs and Trojans would then tighten up on defense for the rest of the game as the Bulldogs would hold the Trojans to no runs for the rest of the game but unfortunately would only score one more time in the fifth leading to a 5-3 opening loss.

Junior Eli Punzo led the Bulldogs in runs with two while junior Riley Engelmann had one run, and one RBI.

Then on Saturday, March 8, the Bulldogs faced the Winters Warriors. The game was defense heavy with no runs allowed from either team until the sixth inning when Gridley High junior Brandon Busch batted in junior Aceson Gomez for the game's only run leading the Bulldogs to win the game 1-0. 

Later in the day, the Bulldogs faced the Colusa Redhawks in a game that was similar to the game against the Trojans.

The Bulldogs went down 4-1 through four innings. Then in the fifth inning the Bulldogs scored three runs to tie the game.

The game remained tight until the seventh inning when the Bulldogs scored a walk off run to win the game 5-4.

Juniors Eli Punzo, Tanner Abbott, and Aceson Gomez had one run while senior Garrett Francis also had a run. 

On March 11, the Bulldogs traveled to Red Bluff to face the Spartans. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs lost the matchup 6-5. Details of the game were not available by press time.

The Bulldogs will next face the Winters Warriors at home on Wednesday, March 19.