After basking in the glory of a WCAL Championship less than a week ago, the biggest question for the Serra baseball team heading into the CCS playoffs was whether or not it could sustain the dominance it has established over the past few weeks.
The Padres clearly did just that in a 5-0 victory at Wilcox in the first round of the CCS playoffs Wednesday afternoon in Santa Clara.
In order to regain the momentum going from a thrilling WCAL playoff run, the Padres turned to their ace and USF-bound Thomas Cox. And he delivered.
Cox threw a complete-game shutout while allowing two hits and striking out eight. Using a fastball, curveball, and changeup, Cox was in complete control of the game and mowed down the Wilcox lineup.
“Today my command seemed to be on point from the get-go,” said Cox.
Serra’s revitalized offense from late in the season kept surging from the get-go as well.
In the first inning, designated hitter Paul Murray smashed an RBI double to open the scoring, and right fielder Michael Tinsley followed with an RBI groundout. The next inning, third baseman Mickey McDonald pitched in an RBI single to give the Padres a 3-0 advantage.
Serra head coach Craig Gianinno credited the early runs to a “much better approach at the plate” from his hitters.
What turned out to be the final scoring rally of the afternoon came in the third inning. After loading the bases, shortstop Daniel Strupeni forced a walk to bring in a run, resulting in a pitching change. A sacrifice fly by first baseman Dominic Orlando marked the final run of the day, as both lineups stepped aside to let Cox dominate.
“Getting runs early in the game me confidence that the bats were going to stay hot like they were in the second half of the season,” said Cox.
While sitting on a comfortable lead after the third, the Padres employed a familiar, safe strategy to ensure that Wilcox would not climb back into the game.
“Our approach was to live away,” said Cox. “We wanted to stay away from hitters just as we had done all season in league play.”
The Padres will take on Saint Francis in the second round of CCS on Saturday. Gianinno says that he has penciled in junior lefthander Orlando Razo to start, who gave up just one run in his outing against the Lancers a week ago.
For the remainder of the CCS playoffs, Serra will look to keep building momentum by utilizing strategies that already worked in its WCAL Championship run.
