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ByRichGreene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter REDBLUFF TheRedBluffSpar- tans won three home games in less than 24 hours to push their record to 12-0 on the season. The Spartans beat Paradise 11-1 in six innings Tuesday night to improve to 4-0 in the Eastern- Sac River League. Red Bluff then swept visiting South Medford, Oregon 5-1 and 12-3 Wednesday afternoon. The final game was the tough- est for the Spartans after they coughed up an early 3-0 lead to the visitors. The Red Bluff bats woke up in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Spartans sent 12 runners to the plate en route to scoring eight runs. The Spartans tacked on four more in the sixth inning, high- lighted by a Ryan Gamboa three-run homer. Spartans coach Ryland Sand- ers played down his players be- ing tired as an excuse for their sluggish start, instead he said his team just wasn't focused. As for his team's ability to seemingly flip the on switch at will, Sanders sees it as a double- edged sword. "It's nice they can do it, but it's extremely frustrating be- cause you watch them sit around for four innings and not do any- thing and then they put up 12 in like two innings," Sanders said. Kolby Button was the first to wake up, leading off the fifth in- ning with a single. Jack Murphy was then hit by a pitch and Lane Pritchard sin- gled to load the bases. Will Macdonald drew a four- pitch walk to score the Spartans' first run of the game. Walker Dodero followed with an RBI single and the Spartans recorded their first out when Gamboa hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field. A bloop off of Sam Hendricks' bat fell in, then Bryce Sinclair singled to load the bases again. Two batters later Button was up for the second time in the in- ning. He drove a ball to center field that was misplayed, allow- ing two more runs to score. Murphy then cashed in the fi- nal run of the inning with an RBI single. The bottom of the sixth in- ning started with Macdonald beating out an infield single. Dodero doubled, then Gam- boa drove a ball to left field. The South Medford outfielder collided with the fence and it ap- peared the ball popped off his glove and over the fence. Eric Schreter then drove in Hendricks, who had doubled, for the Spartans' final run. Macdonald came in to relieve Wesley Clawson in the fourth in- ning. Pritchard made a tremendous play from his shortstop position in the fifth inning to keep South Medford's lead at three. The Spartans got off to a much better start in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Gamboa drove in Macdonald and Hendricks hit an RBI dou- ble to drive home Dodero for a BASEBALL Spartansstillperfect, sweepdoubleheader RedBluffwins3gamesin24hours,with2 over South Medford to improve to 12-0 mark RICHGREENE—REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS Jack Murphy, with Lane Pritchard right on his heels, comes around to score Wednesday during Red Bluff's Game 2win over South Medford. R.BLUFF5-12,S.MEDFORD1-3 Up next: Red Bluff at Paradise, 3p.m. Friday. THESCORE By Antonio Gonzalez The Associated Press OAKLAND One goal down, still more to go. That's the message the Golden State Warriors are giving after winning the Pacific Division for the first time in 39 years. Now they're trying to secure the West- ern Conference's No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage through- out the playoffs for the first time since the defending champion Warriors did it in the 1975-76 season. "We all know the main goal, but baby steps," Warriors for- ward Draymond Green said. "You have to reach certain mile- stones to get to the main goal, and this is one of them." After beating the short- handed Trail Blazers 122-108 on Tuesday night in Portland, play- ers paraded around the visiting locker room with gold shirts that read: "Pacific Claimed." They posted photos of the subdued celebration — no champagne in this one — all over social media but never let the party get out of hand. "It was a good celebration rel- ative to our accomplishment," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "But also with the idea that there's more to come." Assistant coach Alvin Gen- NBA A erdivisiontitle,Warriorswantmore Golden State took first division championship in 39 years Tuesday, still has bigger goals MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The crowd reacts as the Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (center) makes a 3-point basket against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half Wednesday, March 18, in Oakland. A man threatening to commit suicide unleashed a barrage of gunfire on Northern California officers called to check on him, killing a 14-year veteran of the San Jose Police Depart- ment. 14-YEAR VETERAN Manshoots,kills officer checking on him FULL STORY ON PAGE B5 Distractions — especially talking with passengers and using cellphones — play a far greater role in car crashes involving teen drivers than has been previously understood, according to new evidence. SAFETY RESEARCH Distraction a factor in 6 of 10 teen driver wrecks FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 By John Hickey Bay Area News Group MESA, ARIZ. The common wis- dom is that Barry Zito is pitching for the Oakland A's this spring, but he'll be pitching somewhere else this summer. After taking 2014 off, Zito got himself into shape, went looking for a job, then struck a deal with his first team, the A's, a team al- ready full of starting pitching, but one that knows Zito and has some affection for him. Count the Dodgers, the Red Sox the Yankees and the Nationals among the teams who are scout- ing him, teams that are contend- ers but teams that could use one more starting pitcher. Angels scout Jeff Cirillo sees something of himself in Zito, and he has two words for the left- hander: "Stay put." Citing the facts that no one knows when injuries or trades are going to happen, that A's general manager Billy Beane is known for atypical roster moves and that one A's veteran pitcher, Ryan Cook, has been sent to the minor leagues with the season still al- most two weeks away, Cirillo says there could yet be a place for Zito in Oakland. Cirillo has lived it. SPRING TRAINING Zito sees himself on just A's this spring Other clubs have scouted veteran le y for numbers BEN MARGOT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Oakland Athletics' Barry Zito went to the Texas Baseball Ranch this winter. By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. Santiago Casilla will awake some morn- ings, grab a pad of paper and be- gin scribbling. He writes down ev- erything he can remember. When God speaks to you in your dreams, you don't want a single word to slip away. "Some don't believe. That's OK," said Casilla, who might be the most anonymous closer in baseball history to play for three World Series champions. "It's hard for people to believe that. But I know why I'm here. God put me here." In spring training a year ago, Casilla dreamed the San Fran- cisco Giants would win the World Series. He was right. He dreamed that his wife was pregnant with their third child. He was right about that, too. "I dream about a son, named Josepha," Casilla said. "Our son, his name is Josepha." In 2004, when Casilla was competing under a false iden- tity for the A's Single-A club in Kane County, God told him in a dream that he would be in the major leagues before the end of the season. He just had to believe. SPRING TRAINING Casilla delivers sermon on the mound for San Francisco Red Bluff golf has a league match at Canyon Oaks Country Club. Corning golf is at Tucker Oaks Golf Course. Corning tennis visits Central Valley and Mercy travels to Willows at 3:30p.m. TODAY'S SCHEDULE Busy Thursday marked with golf, tennis The Los Molinos Lady Bull- dogs host a three-day so ball tournament beginning today. The Mercy Lady Warriors are also in it. Mercy's baseball team is at the American Chris- tian Academy tournament. SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL Los Molinos hosts tournament today SPARTANS PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 A'S PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 26, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1