Gavin Dunbar owned the morning half of the freshmen's Castaic doubleheader: a complete game with ten strikeouts, no walks, and three hits allowed, the only blemish a first-inning steal of home that briefly tied the game at one.

Dunbar answered that run immediately, picking a runner off first and striking out the side's last batter, and after Castaic put two on in the fourth he retired the final eleven, six by strikeout. His control run now spans two starts: 12.2 innings without a walk.

The offense did the rest with speed and pressure. Nate Marroquin reached all five times up and scored four runs, the first on a steal-wild-pitch-passed-ball tour of the bases in the first. Hayden Jaquez, in his first appearance of the freshman schedule, went 2-for-4 with three RBI, two of them when his hard grounder was misplayed during a three-error Castaic third. Marcus Paikos's squeeze bunt opened a three-run sixth, and Jackson Lord and Jace Lindstrom followed with RBI singles.

Valencia stole eight bases, played error-free defense behind Lord's nine putouts at first and Lindstrom's nine behind the plate, and headed into game 2 with the rout complete.