RYAN SILAPAN
Prep2Prep Senior Editor

May 26, 2016

SAN JOSE — San Benito High pitcher Diego Fisher sure picked the right time to have his best game of the season.

“Fisher definitely pitched his butt off today,” Williams said. “This was the best I’ve ever seen him pitch.”

The junior left-hander threw a four-hit shutout to lead San Benito to the Central Coast Section Open Division title game, as the Haybalers defeated Bellarmine College Prep 3-0 Wednesday night at San Jose Municipal Stadium.

Fisher allowed just four singles, walked only one and struck out four.

“Everything for me was working today,” Fisher said. “I knew my defense was behind me 110 percent and I was going to let (Bellarmine) put the ball in play and see what happens.”

What happened was Bellarmine made plenty of contact but the majority of it ended up in the air and in the gloves of the Balers.

Fisher induced the Bells into 13 fly outs.

Playing in spacious Municipal Stadium Fisher let his defense take care of him.

“I knew it was a huge park so I challenged them,” Fisher said. “I knew my defense in the outfield is very strong and that they would catch anything that was hit to them.”

It was Fisher’s night, as the junior even provided San Benito’s first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning when he hit a ball down the left field line that actually hit the chalk to score Tyler Biersdoff with an RBI double.

Bellarmine, who’s used to facing stellar pitching in the West Catholic Athletic League, gave praise to Fisher for keeping them off balance the entire game.

“He did a nice job mixing speeds and his command is probably the best that he’s had,” Bellarmine coach Mike Rodriguez said. “It’s one of those days where you tip your cap. Even when we hit it hard it ended up right at a guy.

“It’s a good time to have your best performance so good for him.”

San Benito (19-7) added two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth when the Balers had five of their eight total hits. Josh Harris and Williams each provided an RBI single.

The Balers chased Bells starter Kyle Dean from the game in that inning.

The senior took the loss, allowing three earned runs in four and a third innings for the Bells.

Bellarmine (20-10), who finished in third place in the WCAL, will graduate 12 of its 28 players on its roster.

Wes Harper went 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk for Bellarmine, while Mark Gaffey and Laurence Palmer each had a single in the loss.

It was a trying year for the Bells after Rodriguez had to step away and be sporadic with his appearances following the news that his young daughter Sophia was diagnosed with leukemia, and losing star player Antonio Garcia for most of the season with a mysterious illness.

“I’m very proud of this team and their effort,” Rodriguez said. “With a teammate going down and their head coach going through what he’s going through for them to grow up the way that they did and so quick I think they did a nice job. Unfortunately we fell a game short of the championship but that’s baseball.”

San Benito, who defeated rival and No. 2 seed Palma 7-0, to reach the title game are in search of its first-ever CCS title.

The Balers will have a difficult task in taking on the reigning Open Division champion, St. Francis, who defeated Carlmont 3-2 in the other semifinal game.

San Benito, who last competed in a CCS title game in 2012, is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the reigning champions and their star ace Jeremy Ydens — the 2015 Prep2Prep CCS Player of the Year.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Williams said. “Ydens is a great pitcher, we saw him a little bit this year before our game got rained out but were very excited to face him and it’s going to be a good game.”

Way back on March 4, the Lancers visited Hollister for a non-league contest, but the game was called early due to rain and was never made up.

The Balers are confident that if they take care of business they have what it takes to unseat the reigning champions.

“Pitching and defense wins championships,” San Benito coach Billy Aviles said. “Today we got the pitching, played the defense and had timely hits. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

“They are solid, they swing it, they are physical, they can hit and pitch so I think it’s going to be a good matchup.”

The Open Division title game will take place Saturday at Municipal Stadium at a time to be announced.