SAN JOSE — On Friday morning Jeremy Ydens put an end to his outstanding academic career at St. Francis High when he graduated.
Friday night Ydens put an end to his outstanding pitcher career in one of the grandest fashions possible — throwing a shutout.
The UCLA-bound outfielder pitched a six-hit shutout to lead St. Francis to its second consecutive Central Coast Section Open Division title as the Lancers held off a game San Benito team 1-0 at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
“This is definitely a surreal moment,” Ydens said. “Just to be able to go out like that. I’m done pitching, I’m going to be playing outfield (at UCLA) so to go out on top as a pitcher I definitely couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Ydens struck out struck out seven - including the final batter of the game - and walked only one.
On a day Ydens graduated and pitched his last game, St. Francis coach Mike Oakland said there was no better way for him to go out.
“His performance goes down as one the best performances I’ve ever seen,” Oakland said. “I can’t say enough about the guy — he’s everything to us, he champs up every time it comes to big games like this.”
The win gave St. Francis its sixth CCS title and third CCS title in the last four years.
St. Francis (27-8) needed every bit of Ydens’ brilliance as San Benito junior Tyler Triano was matching Ydens pitch for pitch.
Through four innings Triano had gotten out of multiple jams including the second inning where the Lancers had runners on second and third with no outs.
The Lancers picked up the lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth when designated hitter Mack Cheli got beaned with the bases loaded.
San Benito coach Billy Aviles decided to take out Triano after he walked Emilio Nogales to load the bases with two outs in the bottom half of the inning. Reliever Ryan Jameson's first pitch hit Cheli, forcing in the game's only run.
Lancers No. 3 hitter RJ Teijeiro was the only player in the game to have multiple hits as the junior went 3-for-4.
“It was a great one, great team win,” Teijeiro said. “Everybody pulled together, coaches did a great job preparing us for this game and Jeremy did a very good job on the mound.”
San Benito (18-9) didn’t go away quietly as the Haybalers had multiple chances in the sixth and seventh inning.
In the sixth Mason Marquez and Davonte Butler led off the inning with back-to-back singles but San Benito left them stranded.
In the seventh Josh Harris and pinch hitter RJ Clark reached on back-to-back singles with one out, but again Ydens settled down to get the next two batters out to win the game.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else,” St. Francis senior catcher Johnny Mendoza said of Ydens. “Jeremy has always been there for us and it was unbelievable job by him.”
The Balers were looking for their first-ever CCS title after beating Bellarmine 3-0 to reach the title game on Wednesday.
San Benito showcased its offensive depth having six different players get a hit but couldn't get that one clutch hit in the loss to St. Francis.
“We gave ourselves opportunities,” San Benito coach Billy Aviles said. “It was a battle — we had six hits they had six hits and no errors, it was about as clean of baseball game as you can get.”
The Balers will graduate nine players from their 22-player roster but San Benito will again be a serious threat in the Monterey Bay League-Gabilan Division and CCS playoffs next year.
San Benito will return MBL-Gabilan Player of the Year Drew Williams and the majority of its pitching staff.
“We knew what kind of talent we had,” Aviles said. “We had quite a bit of adversity this year but the kids pulled together and were solid. We have a really young team. I’m returning my whole pitching staff so I’m excited for next year. It’s going to be a fun year next year also.”
The Lancers, who were co-regular season West Catholic Athletic League champions with Serra this year, will lose eight of their 26 players to graduation including five position players in second baseman Rickey Martinez, Andrew Martinez as well as Mendoza and Ydens.
On a day the eight seniors all graduated, the Lancers’ underclassmen weren’t going to settle for anything less than having their seniors go out on top after meaning so much to the program.
“It’s a wonderful way to send them out,” Teijeiro said. “They graduate this morning they get this great CCS win to finish off. It was a great way to send these guys off.”
