Varsity baseball beat Lathrop 6-5 yesterday at Lathrop. The Cougars received some late-inning heroics on their way to their first victory of the season.

Lathrop had a 5-run lead heading into the top of the fourth inning. Spartan pitcher Jasper Tovar was cruising, but the Cougars plated their first run, cutting the lead to 5-1. Weston Ranch scored three more runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 5-4, then added one more in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5, setting up the dramatic conclusion.

In the top of the seventh, with the score tied and facing a 1-2 count, Dominik Makinano doubled home the go-ahead run. Ayden Tinsley, who took over for starting pitcher Jose Aguilar in the sixth, pitched a perfect bottom of the seventh inning to highlight the comeback.

“Jose was terrific for us through five innings,” Hager said. “We had that tough 4-run inning, but Jose’s effort in the other four was outstanding. Ayden’s two innings were perfect and put us in a great position to win the game. He faced Lathrop’s first, second, and third hitters in the bottom of the seventh and shut them down.”

Aguilar pitched five innings, gave up three hits, and five runs (three unearned), walked four and struck out nine Spartans. Tinsley threw two innings in relief, allowed no runs, no hits, and struck out four.

Offensively, the Cougars got hits from Namir Brown-Sanger, Aguilar, and Makinano. Tinsley, Aguilar, and Makinano each drove in one run for Weston Ranch. Brown-Sanger stole two bases for the Cougars.

“It was a great effort by our guys,” said head coach David Hager. “We were down five but didn’t give up. We took care of the ball today and had a great final few innings. It was an exciting way to close out a game.”

Weston Ranch is now 1-1 and will play East Union on March 9 at Weston Ranch. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.