WEST SACRAMENTO — Offseason baseball is designed to be a learning experience.

For an awfully young Davis Junior Legion squad, the opening round of the District 6 tournament at River City High was a bad day in class.

“This is the part where they have to step up,” veteran Davis coach Bob Creely said after watching his fledglings lose, 8-0, to Cordova on Wednesday. “Unfortunately (Wednesday) they had to learn the hard way.”

The game was ended after 4 1/2 innings by the mercy rule.

Fielding a mostly freshman roster with no 16-year-olds in the dugout, the overmatched locals had to face Cordova High’s ace hurler Nate Jacobson. The 6-3, 185-pound right-hander was 6-5 for the Lancer varsity this spring while sporting a 2.45 ERA.

On Wednesday, Jacobson pitched an efficient five-hit shutout. Of the Davis safeties, four were of the infield variety. Only Ben D’Angelo’s two-base blast to the fence — against a wind blowing in from left — gave the locals any kind of pulse.

But that lead-off, fourth-inning double led nowhere as Jacobson settled in and retired the next three batters.

At the time, it was only 3-0 and Davis still had its foot in the door. But a five-run Cordova fourth — highlighted by triples from Jerome Brown and Jacobson (of course) — put the game out of reach.

Creely, nonetheless, was happy to see a little spark in the final frame.

With two outs, both Andrew Bolich and Jared McNeece scratched out infield singles before Jacobson got his final out.

“We’ll be OK if we play our game,” Creely said of Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. elimination game against also to be played at River City High against the loser of an Elk Grove/El Camino matchup earlier in the day. “Somehow we got knocked off track here (Wednesday).”

After one inning, things were moving forward smoothly.

McNeese had beaten out a grounder to short and Kyle England worked a walk, but it all came with two outs and D’Angelo’s bouncer resulted in a force play to end the threat.

Davis starter Andrew Grindall sent Cordova’s first three hitters packing, thanks in part to nice plays from left fielder McNeece and second baseman Bolich.

A double play helped Jacobson keep the locals scoreless in the second, before Cordova broke through on two hits and a wild pitch, which scored Jacobson.

Two more Cordova runs in the third — one of which was unearned — dug the hole a little deeper.

When a walk and two singles made the margin 5-0, Creely turned to reliever Kris Prince.

Jacobson’s two-run triple was followed by a groundout and the scoring came to an end.

Jacobson went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored to go with his stellar pitching.

McNeece was 2-for-2 with a walk for Davis, while Grindall and Bolich added the other infield hits.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

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Davis pitcher Andrew Grindall throws out a Cordova runner who bunted during the locals’ 8-0 loss on Wednesday in the Junior Legion District 6 tournament at River City High. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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