CARMEL, CA — Ben Weber capped a six-run third inning with a grand slam as the Carmel High baseball team pulled into a first-place tie in the Mission Trail Athletic League with a 9-2 win over visiting King City Monday afternoon.
After losing 3-2 to King City last Wednesday, the Padres knew that if they were at the very least going to earn a share of the MTAL title, they would have to beat the Mustangs.
When Weber saw the 1-2 offering, the junior belted it over the short right-center fence.
“I just looked at the right fielder and saw he wasn’t moving so I was just stoked,” Weber said of his grand slam. “We really had good team hitting today, getting people on and we finished which was great.”
Leadoff hitter Cody Clark reached after being hit by a pitch to start the third inning and advanced to second on a Daniel Higman single. Carter Hayes then hit an RBI single.
Cleanup hitter John Stivers reached on an error and Lennie Rodriguez reached after being hit by a pitch before Weber’s grand slam — his first home run of the year.
“It was pretty much the biggest game of the year,” Weber said. “It was a great day for us.”
Carmel (17-7, 14-2) came into the game trailing King City (18-6, 14-2) by a game in the MTAL standings but the Padres were still confident despite falling to the Mustangs less than a week ago in King City.
Hayes, a University of Pacific signee, who hit a two-run home run, said once Carmel’s offense gets going it can hit with the best of them.
“It just took us a little while to get started,” he said. “We’re pretty contagious hitters so when one guy gets a hit it starts something and we have big innings usually.”
Hayes went 2-for-3 at the plate with 3 RBIs and two runs scored while Higman went 3-for-3 and scored three runs.
Junior Elliot Bouc got the win for the Padres while giving up two hits, a run and a walk in five innings to go along with one strikeout.
“Everybody at home is a better team,” Carmel coach Randy Bispo said. “It’s more comfortable hitting, fielding and throwing at our place and I thought that’s what showed for us today.”
Senior Jose Arreola (3 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 K) took the loss.
Jacob Flores and Cedric Perez both had RBI singles for the Mustangs.
King City said that they shook off the loss within moments after the game and are looking to its final two games of the season against Soledad.
“We just forgot about this game,” King City coach Lorenzo Espino, Jr. said. “It’s over with, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s not dwell, when we win a game we enjoy it for 24 hours then get ready for practice.
“We didn’t play our best game and now we got two tough games with Soledad. It should be fun.”
King City came in ranked No. 20 and Carmel No. 22 in the Prep2Prep Central Coast Section Top 25.
The Mustangs will visit Soledad (13-11, 10-6) Tuesday at 4 p.m.
As King City will likely have to grind out two games against a rival, Carmel will finish off its season with a pair of games against Marina (3-14, 3-11).
“It’s pretty good for us that they are playing Soledad, Soledad is pretty tough team to beat,” Hayes said. “We got Marina but it’s baseball, so we aren’t going to take anybody lightly.”
The Padres will do something they are unaccustomed to in the final week of the season and that’s root for another team if they hope to win the MTAL outright.
“I could go for a split, sure why not,” Bispo said of King City’s last two games of the season against Soledad. “We expect them to be a winning team so even if it comes to sharing a title with them we’d be proud to do that, that’s a good team.”
Carmel will celebrate its senior day when it hosts Marina Tuesday at 4 p.m.
