Valencia opened its fall schedule the way coaches draw it up in September: clean pitching, pressure on the bases, and a run an inning while the staff auditioned four arms in a 4-1 Saturday-morning win over Taft.

The runs came the manufactured way. Kade Breech and Jonathon Torres singled back-to-back in the second and Breech scored when a steal drew an errant throw. Tyler Lord and Cole DeYoung hit consecutive balls hard in the third, DeYoung's double and a shortstop error making it 2-0, and a stolen base plus a passed ball cashed Justin Gaisford's single in the fourth. Gaisford added the only RBI of the day in the sixth, singling home Evan Conrad.

The staff made three runs feel like plenty. Charles Goodman opened with two hitless innings, Tee Intharachalit worked around a walk and the game's odd moment, a catcher's interference call, while picking a runner off first, Steven Genovese struck out three in his two frames, and JT Gurne closed the seventh. Taft's only run, in the sixth, was answered immediately and bracketed by a 3-6-3 double play Gaisford started.

Torres and Santino Cascione stole two bags apiece, and Lord reached both times up while catching all six strikeouts. Nine hits, four pitchers, one run allowed: a tidy start to the fall.