Holdren’s homers help Rancho rip Coronado

Rancho baseball coach Tom Pletsch rarely worries about his team’s pitching and defense.

He thinks the biggest question facing the Rams this season is inexperience at the plate. But if Saturday was any indication, the young lineup is making strides.

Eric Holdren crushed two solo home runs, Zak Qualls pitched a five-inning one-hitter, and Rancho cruised to a 13-1 victory at Coronado.

“The key for us this whole season will be how our young bats mature,” Pletsch said. “If they mature and continue to hit the ball like we did today, we’ve got a chance to win a few games.”

Holdren, a sophomore third baseman, finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs.

“At the start of the season, I wasn’t doing so great,” Holdren said. “But I just kept practicing, kept focusing on what I was supposed to do and came out today and did my job.”

Holdren homered in his first two at-bats, including a first-inning shot to left-center field that traveled more than 400 feet.

“Both of them, you knew they were gone as soon as he hit them,” Pletsch said. “That’s a big lift for him because we need his bat to be in the middle of the lineup.”

Rancho (7-0) used a seven-run fifth inning to hand Coronado (1-6) its third run-rule loss of the season.

The only hit Qualls surrendered was an RBI double to Justin Souza-Grenier in the third inning.

Though Pletsch said Qualls “didn’t have his best stuff,” the sophomore finished with nine strikeouts, two walks and one hit batsman.

“That pitcher threw outside real well, and we didn’t make the adjustment quick enough,” Coronado coach Dave Padilla said.

Sophomores Qualls, Brandon Pletsch and Roy Sipes had three hits apiece for the Rams, who have outscored their first seven opponents 62-13.

“Our motto right now is consistency, and just playing hard and staying together as a team,” Holdren said.

Tom Pletsch said Las Vegas remains the team to beat in the Northeast League but that Rancho has “a chance to go pretty deep in the playoffs.”

“The kids are coming together as a team,” he said. “They’re starting to understand their roles, and that’s what’s going to get us to the next level.”