Baseball can be a funny game, and that was no more evident than Tuesday afternoon at Pittsburg High School, where the host Pirates got a three-hit gem from Christian Blevins to shut out visiting Heritage, 5-0.
Not only did Heritage (15-6, 5-2 BVAL) enter the game tied for first place in the Bay Valley Athletic League standings, but the Patriots had also routed Pittsburg (14-7, 3-4) in their first meeting this season, 19-1. But after scoring at will in the first meeting, Heritage had no such success against Blevins in the rematch, and the Pirates’ offense was the one to come up with some timely hits.
“Losing (19-1) to them in the first meeting was tough, but we knew with (Christian) Blevins on the mound, we had an opportunity to keep it close this time. He was hitting his spots, and you have to also give credit to (Coach Cliff) Coleman for coming up with a game plan to beat them,” said Pittsburg coach Marco Cartagena. “Our goal all year has been to turn around last year’s record of 8-16, and the boys have been doing a great job of competing every day.”
Pittsburg drew first blood in the bottom of the third inning, after Lamar Merritt and Nick Montez opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Tyler Orr sacrificed both runners over, and beat the throw, loading the bases with no outs. Jack Lacy III then demonstrated some effective two-strike hitting, taking a 1-2 pitch into right field for a two-run single. Blevins then helped his own cause, lofting a sacrifice fly to center field, deep enough to score Orr for a 3-0 lead.
“All day, I kept telling (Jack) Lacy to be himself and take what the pitcher was giving him,” Cartagena added. “I led off with Jack for the first time this year, and I knew he was the right guy today because he is fearless.”
The Pirates wasted no time adding to the lead, either, pushing two more runs across in the bottom of the fourth. Isaiah Franklin singled to lead off the inning, and Malico Negron was hit by a pitch to once again put the first two batters on base. Heritage pitcher Jacob Jackson responded with back-to-back strikeouts, but a passed ball allowed both runners to advance into scoring position, and Orr followed with a key two-out single to left field, after fouling off three straight pitches. That scored two more runs, and gave Pittsburg a 5-0 advantage.
“Tyler worked the pitch count and got a pitch he could handle,” Cartagena said. “We had seen Jackson already, and we thought we had done well against him last time around. We weren’t surprised with his off-speed stuff, and we wanted to hit his fastball early. Tyler was able to fight off some tough pitches and got a good pitch to drive those runs in.”
Blevins did face some trouble in the top of the fifth inning, as Heritage got runners on the corners with one out. He was able to induce a double play ball to second base on the first pitch of the next at bat, however, to escape the jam. From there, he allowed just one runner in each inning as the Pirates sealed the upset victory.
Eight different Pittsburg players had hits in the victory, while sophomore Ryan Jackson had two of Heritage’s three hits.
College Park wins key DAL-Foothill battle
Christian Encarnacion-Strand continued his magnificent run this spring, taking the first pitch he saw to lead off the top of the fifth inning over the left field fence, in what would prove to be the game-winning run in a 3-2 victory for College Park over Acalanes.
Encarnacion-Strand, who is batting .414 with five home runs and 26 RBI so far this year, went 3-for-4 in the game. Nathan Nicosia went 2-for-3 with a walk, and scored twice, while also earning the save in relief of starting pitcher Connor Sullivan, who struck out four in five and two-thirds innings.
Brian Merken allowed just four hits in five innings for the Dons, but also walked four. With the win, College Park stays tied atop the DAL-Foothill standings with Northgate, while the loss drops Acalanes two games back.
Northgate and College Park face each other on Thursday, in a game that can likely decide the league title.
Around the WCAL tournament
Since five-seed Bellarmine beating four-seed Mitty can’t really be considered an upset with the depth of the WCAL this year, it is fair to say that the first round of the league tournament played out according to form.
Valley Christian got a brief scare from Riordan, trailing 2-1 in the third, but pulled away for the 10-3 victory, as Coleman Brigman, Ryan Belluomini, and Jonathan Cymrot all homered, and Nick Marinconz added a three-hit day at the plate. Eddie Park doubled twice in the win.
Mike Mitchell struck out eight in six innings, and Lucas Ragen threw a perfect seventh inning for the save in Bellarmine’s 2-1 win over Mitty. Wes Harper hit a solo home run in the top of the second inning, and Josh Mollerus added a run batted in during the same frame, which was enough to earn the win over the Monarchs.
Serra put the game away with five runs in the bottom of fifth inning, pulling away to beat St. Ignatius, 11-5. Noah Marcelo drove in three runs for the Padres, while Jack Thomson homered in the loss for the Wildcats.
Gianluca Shinn and Jaeger Stone combined on a four-hit shutout as Saint Francis blanked Sacred Heart Cathedral, 10-0. Ryan Higgins had four hits and scored four times for the Lancers in the victory.
Wednesday’s semifinals take place at Santa Clara University, with Valley Christian facing Saint Francis at 4 pm, followed by Bellarmine against Serra at 7 pm.
