Whitney High’s varsity baseball team started the Pioneer Valley League season with a victory over visiting Bear River last week as senior pitcher Vinnie Orozco shut the Bruins down.

Orozco went all seven innings on March 11, allowing only single runs in the second and fourth innings as Whitney won 3-2.

“He came in after six innings and he said he wanted to finish it and we let him go the distance,” Whitney coach Bret Hunter said. “He’s a senior now and he’s throwing with confidence. He kept his pitch count down and got a lot of groundballs and started to pitch better as the game went along. And we made plays defensively when we had to make them.”

Whitney’s left side of the infield, junior shortstop Austin Cairns and junior third baseman Patrick Stole, highlighted the defensive effort late in the game. Cairns was all-PVL last year and Stole is batting .600 (9-for-15) through the first five games.

Stole (2-3, run, RBI), Orozco (1-3, run, RBI, double) and Carlos Parra (1-2, RBI, triple) led Whitney’s offense against Bear River.

Whitney (3-2 overall, 1-0 in the PVL) played El Dorado in league action Wednesday and will host Mesa Verde at 4 p.m. in a league game Friday. The Wildcats will also play two non-league games this week, visiting River Valley at 3:30 p.m. today and hosting Lincoln of Stockton on Saturday at a time to be announced.

Whitney lost a non-league game, 14-4, at Woodland on Friday. Hunter started Derek Knutty on the mound in that game. Knutty, Whitney’s No. 2 pitcher behind Orozco, came to baseball late this season because of Whitney’s long run in the basketball playoffs.

“We ran him out there against Woodland to get him back into the rhythm and he was up (in the strike zone) a little bit against them but he settled down,” Hunter said. “And we’re looking for him to do good things for us in the outfield and on the bump. He’s taller and throwing a lot harder (this year).”

Other pitchers in the mix for Whitney include sophomore Cody Cesna, Cairns, junior Tyler Nation and junior Cody Borst.

Hunter has been trying out a lot of different things with the batting order.

“We have a lot of guys hitting the ball really well and finding the perfect lineup is tough,” he said. “Up to this point, in terms of depth in our lineup, this is the first year we have totally focused hard on writing a lineup card everyday. Practices are really competitive and the games are really competitive and that makes us more competitive.”

Cairns (three-year varsity starter) and Stole start on the left side of the infield while junior Darrel Nygard (first base) and Parra (second base) are on the right side. Nygard is a transfer from Woodcreek and he is batting .571 so far and a team leader in several offensive categories. Parra is a senior that is “swinging the bat much better this year and a defensive fixture in our lineup everyday,” Hunter said.

Senior Charlie Hetland is a four-year starter at catcher.

“He will be a tough guy to replace. He’s solid and he’s smart and can run the entire defense,” Hunter said. “He’s matured and he’s our team captain (voted by the players). A tough kid that will do whatever it takes to win.”

The outfield group features senior Dominic Pasquale (center field, four-year starter), junior Anthony Stang and Nation (left field) and Knutty (right field if not pitching).