Photos and Story by Dan Rogers

STOCKTON – A poor shooting night overall, and costly turnovers were the main villains in a 118-100 loss to the visiting Oklahoma City Blue on Sunday afternoon at the Stockton Arena.

Stockton’s offense featured five players in double figures, led by 22 from Matt Coleman II, but as a team the G-League Kings shot a subpar 40% from the field and 21% from the 3-point range.

OKC was paced by starting center Jaylen Hoard, who scored 25 points off several in-close opportunities. Power forward Scotty Hopson added 22 for the Blue, who used a bruising inside presence to gain an early advantage that they never relinquished. Most games the Kings have the advantage down low, but with center Neemias Queta playing for Sacramento these days, Stockton was left searching for answers in the paint.

The loss left Stockton’s record at 2-1 for the second half. They continue their homestand on Friday January 14th at the Stockton Arena against the Agua Caliente Clippers. Gametime is 7:00pm.

MODESTO – Adam Macko earned his second pro win in the Modesto Nuts 9-3 win over the Visalia Rawhide at John Thurman Field on Thursday night.

After a scoreless first, Adam Macko (W, 2-0) walked two and surrendered an RBI double. The Nuts (15-6) starter issued a lead off walk in the third that would eventually score with the help of an error before another RBI double added a run for the Rawhide (5-16). From there, Macko was dominant. The lefty struck out the next four batters in a row on his way to ten Ks and the league lead in strikeouts with 37.

The Nuts’ offense came firing out of the gates scoring five runs in the first inning against Rawhide starter Justin Martinez (L, 0-2). Cade Marlowe singled home a run before he stole home as part of a double steal. Cesar Izturis Jr. added a two-run double before Ty Duvall capped the first inning scoring with an RBI single. Justin Martinez lasted just 0.2 innings pitched for Visalia.

Robert Perez Jr. added an RBI single in the second inning. The Nuts plated two runs in the third. Victor Labrada, who reached four times, drove home a run with an RBI single in the fourth.

After Macko, the Nuts’ bullpen was lights out. The combination of Kelvin Nunez, Matthew Willrodt, and Nolan Hoffman worked four innings without allowing a hit while striking out seven.

The Nuts look for their second straight win in game four of the six-game set with the Rawhide at John Thurman Field on Friday night.

Story & photos contributed by Dan Rogers.

Josiah De Los Santos pitched around trouble all night, and the Nuts bullpen shut the door over the last 3 innings to give Modesto(14-5) a win over the struggling Visalia Rawhide(4-15) and continue a hot start to the season.

The Nuts offense was paced by catcher Matt Scheffler and Cesar Izturis Jr, who both went 2-5 with 2 RBI, and Daniel Gomez, who had 3 hits and scored three times for Modesto. De Los Santos allowed 2 runs on wild pitches, but buckled down repeatedly in the middle innings to stop Visalia rallies.

Juan Mercedes allowed only 1 run in his 2 innings of work, while Luis Curvelo, and Travis Kuhn each put up zeroes to close out the game.

Modesto has returned home for a 6-game homestand, and will face Visalia 5 more times this week, before hitting the road again to face San Jose.

Dan Rogers contributed this report.