Thanks to a strong performance on the mound and at the plate from star senior Drew Van Court, the Pioneer High School varsity baseball team overcame a rough first inning and defeated Patterson 8-3 in the opening round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

With the win, the Patriots advance to the CIF D3 quarterfinals, where they will take on the No. 1-seeded Oakmont, who ended the Patriots’ season last year by the score of 3-1 in the very same round.

“It’ll (playing the No. 1 seed) be fun,” Van Court said. “We’ve got to get our ‘get back’ from last year. As long as we play clean like we did today and have good approaches, I don’t think the outcome will be as clear-cut as people think it will be.”

The Patri0ts (15-9, 9-3, Monticello Empire League) came into Wednesday’s home playoff game on a high note, having wrapped up a share of the MEL championship alongside Rodriguez last week. That showing earned them the No. 8 overall seed in D3 and a home playoff game in the first round.

Patterson (18-8, 10-8, Valley Oak League) finished fourth in the tough Valley Oak League and earned the division’s No. 9 seed.

The game got off to a scorching start with Patterson ripping off two quick runs in the top of the first, only to have that number matched by the Patriots in the bottom half of the inning.

“The whole team picked up Drew after that first inning by answering with two of our own runs,” Patriots head coach Craig Marquez said. “He then settled down a bit as we added a few more runs every inning.”

Senior Landon Dahler maneuvered his way around the base paths to score the first run before Sammy Sanchez knocked in Van Court from second base on a single to make it 2-0.

In the bottom of the second inning, Dahler would score his second run of the game to make it 3-2.

In the bottom of the third, junior Jordan Constancio, who was displaying outstanding glove work all game from second base, would double to center field and score Sanchez to make it 4-2.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Patriots loaded the bases and looked to break it wide open, but only managed to score one run thanks to a Van Court sacrifice fly that scored junior Cisco Quintana to make it 5-2.

After a quiet fifth inning, Patterson managed to claw a run back and make it 5-3.

Things looked to get messier as the Patriots soon found themselves in a jam with runners on first and third with only one out. However, Van Court was able to induce a ground ball that Jack Cullison and Quintana flipped into a double play to get them out of the inning with minimal damage done.

“I couldn’t get the life on my heater that I wanted, and they put good swings on my pitches early,” Van Court recalled. “After that, I took a breath and settled in by pounding the zone with the heater while mixing in my changeup really well.”

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Patriots enjoyed another big inning, scoring three more runs to take an 8-3 lead.

Van Court led off the scoring with a 2-RBI single, scoring Dahler and Bermudez to make it 7-3. Sanchez then hit a sacrifice fly to score Cullison and make it 8-3.

Sanchez would then come out for the final inning, slamming the door shut on Patterson and advancing the Patriots into the quarterfinals against the awaiting No. 1-seeded Oakmont, set for Friday, May 9 at 4 p.m.

“I told these guys quite a few times that we can do the small and big things right,” Marquez said. “It’s probably one of the better hitting teams I have ever had here, and it goes to show because of how we did in the league. Quality at-bats left and right, putting up numbers and having fun with it.”

“It’s fun. You come out here for a first-round playoff game, and everyone is excited, so it’s good to see us continue to swing the bats like we did during the league,” Van Court said. “Hopefully, we can carry that into Friday.”