April 9, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Valley Christian High senior pitcher Riley Jones was at it again, doing what he has done the past several seasons. The ace of the pitching staff scattered three hits, faced four over the minimum, threw 90 pitches and picked up his fourth complete game of the season as the Defenders put Whittier Christian High away late in a 6-1 victory this past Monday.
The only thing keeping Jones from his third shutout of the season was a leadoff home run from Zion Park to begin the top of the sixth. That tied the game, but the Defenders (9-9, 2-1) answered back in a huge way in their half of the inning, scoring five runs on three hits and getting three walks plus a pivotal play at home plate.
“So, what he does is he comes out and throws lots of strikes for us; he gets ahead in batters constantly and he battles,” said V.C. first-year head coach Eric Slater. “Even when he’s in tough situations, he battles out of those tough situations. It was another performance that I was very impressed with; very proud of him for going out there. It would almost be like I’m saying the same thing. He just keeps on performing for us and taking care of business.”
“Today I was coming in with the mindset of knowing that these guys are kind of our [league] rivals, and this game means a lot to not only me, but to the rest of the seniors,” said Jones. “I was coming in with guns blazing and doing anything I could to get my team the victory.”
Jones began the game by throwing seven pitches to Park before he grounded out to senior shortstop Seth Dahlenburg, then retired the next four batters before hitting Lorenzo Ibarra on the second pitch he saw. But Jones bounced back and did not allow another baserunner until Alex Valencia singled with one out in the fourth.
One out later, Luke Jung singled to left before Jones got Ibarra to strike out, ending that threat. After that, the only blemish for Jones over the next three innings was the home run. Jones struck out nine for the game and threw a first-pitch strike 14 times while going ahead 0-2 half a dozen times as he improved to 6-2 in nine starts.
According to statistics on the MaxPrep.com website, Jones is second in the state with 83 strikeouts, one behind Mike Martinez of Modesto Christian High and is 17th in the nation.
“I would tell you the best part about this game is he does give up that home run…the thing that was really impressive is that after he gives up that home run, he threw seven pitches to get out of the inning,” said Slater. “Fortunately for us, our bats came alive. We had some great executions that were able to give us that big inning.”
“When there’s guys on base, I have to remember that I’m the one in charge; I’m the one with the baseball,” said Jones. “Going into those at-bats, I know that they’re high pressure situations and if I’m not able to execute in high pressure situations, then I’m not a pitcher. I do everything that I can to execute the best I can, whether that’s a strikeout or soft groundouts or soft pop-ups.”
Meanwhile, the V.C. bats were stymied by Valencia through the first four innings, as the only runner to reach base was a one out walk to junior left fielder Max Douglas in the second. But Douglas led off the fifth with a single to centerfield, followed by an infield hit from senior right fielder Micah Tamminga.
Two outs later, junior second baseman R.J. Estrada gave the Defenders a 1-0 lead with a single to left. In the next inning, sophomore first baseman Quintin Ekstrom got the party going with a single to center and stole second. Following the ninth and final strikeout from Valencia, Dahlenburg’s base hit brought in Eckstrom.
Dahlenburg would advance on a wild pitch and move to third on an error before Valencia walked Douglas. Then, Tamminga laid down a bunt in front of Valencia who tried to flip the ball to his battery mate, Eli Echavarria. However, Dahlenburg barreled over Echavarria, who dropped the ball and just like that, it was 3-1. Walks to senior designated hitter Weston Lynott, who would later score on a wild pitch, and sophomore pinch hitter Mack Lynott, who brought in Douglas, plus a single from Estrada, allowing Tamminga to score, completed V.C.’s offense. Estrada, batting in the ninth spot, had two of V.C.’s six hits and seven players reached base.
“[Valencia] was very crafty, and he’s probably one of the best lefties that we’ve seen so far this year,” said Slater. “I thought that he was absolutely spot on the whole game.”
V.C. completed the home and home series with the Heralds on Apr. 10 before travelling to Woodcrest Christian High on Thursday. The Defenders, who have won five of their last seven games and reached the .500 mark for the fourth time, will try to move north of .500 for the first time since their season-opening win over Long Beach Cabrillo. Of the nine losses, two have been by a run, two more have been by two runs and two have been by three runs.
“One of the things we’ve done all year long is that we’ve played a lot of great ballgames and we kind of hurt ourselves once in a while with some lackluster performances at the plate,” said Slater. “As long as we can maintain our quality pitching, our decent defense and then some timely hitting, we’re going to be okay.
“I do think we’re right there,” he continued. “We’re a team that’s right on the cusp of getting that winning streak going.”
“I think it’s going to take all of our hearts to [beat Whittier Christian again],” said Jones. “We’ve been working really well as a team; we’ve had a lot of chemistry now, and I think coming into this game, this is a big momentum shift in the middle of the season, especially getting into the middle of league. And we’ve realized that winning on Thursday really boosts our chances of going to playoffs.”
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