SACRAMENTO — Maybe all those tough Valley Oak League games were just what East Union High’s varsity baseball team needed.

            The Lancers, fresh off two one-run routes of Sierra in the final VOL series of the season, exploded into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs with a 9-1 shellacking of Center on Wednesday, May 14, at Dan McAuliffe Memorial Park.

            The upset over the No. 1 seed and Capital Valley Conference champions vaulted the VOL’s No. 2 seed to the second round of the postseason, which begins Saturday, May 17, in a two-game series against Pioneer Valley Champs, Bear River.

            “I think we are playing our best baseball of the year,” East Union coach Dan Triglia said. “I would love to say that was the design, but that was not necessarily the design. It’s just the way these guys have responded.

            “We struggled a little bit this year, but we kept on digging, and now all that struggle and hard work is paying off.”

            East Union jumped ahead with a bases-loaded first inning that produced a pair of early scores. The team went on to add a run in the second, third and fourth innings, before knocking in four in the fifth frame after a two-RBI triple from playoff sensation, Marshall Swift.

            The junior was 3-for-3 with five RBIs, and was a home run away (triple, double, single) from batting for the cycle. He also tossed seven standout innings on the hill with just one run surrendered on seven hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

            “I have just been seeing the ball well lately, and I saw it extra well tonight,” Swift said. “I feel like we are playing at the peak of our game right now, at the right time.”

            Swift got out of trouble quickly in a bases loaded jam with just one out in the bottom of the fourth by drawing a first-pitch grounder, firing home and watching Garret Fisher continue the play to first for a double play.

            “What was key for us was our defense and Marshall’s pitching,” Triglia said. “He’s not going to throw it by anybody but he is a pitcher.”

            Fisher managed a two-RBI knock to open the contest, and finished 2-for-4 at the plate. Trae Lopez hit 1-for-3 with a sac-fly and three runs as well.

            The Lancers will return to Sacramento tomorrow to face Bear River (16-8 overall, 10-2 PVL) at noon for the first of a best-out-of-three series. The PVL champs topped Manteca 5-2 in their playoff opener, but used up team ace Vince Viola (.884 ERA, 81 strikeouts) in that contest.

East Union (12-10, 9-5) will likely start Lopez and John Campa in the two games, and could dip deep into the program’s pitching repertoire for hurlers to advance the program along.

            “I will take our chances with how our guys are playing right now,” Triglia said. “In a series, you get into some pitching, but we have kept guys working all year and I think when called upon, they will rise to the occasion.”

            The SJS finale is at Sacramento City College.