In front of packed stands at Danny Frisella Field, the host Padres, down by seven runs early, rallied to defeat St. Francis 10-9 in a wild game Friday afternoon.
The Lancers came into the game ranked No. 6 in the nation by MaxPreps.com and No. 1 in the state by CalHiSports. Serra's victory throws the West Catholic Athletic League into a tizzy with the Padres, Lancers and Valley Christian all tied for first place.
Serra’s Jordan Paroubeck and Paul Murray led the comeback on offense for the Padres, combining for five hits and four runs batted in. Junior Sean Watkins recorded the win for the Padres, allowing only one hit over four scoreless innings and escaping a sticky jam.
Serra’s starting pitcher Orlando Razo couldn’t get past the first inning as he allowed five hits and three walks. With only one out in the first and the bases loaded, Padre coach Craig Gianinno was faced with the decision whether to remove the normally splendid Razo early.
“It was a tough decision”, Gianinno said. "I couldn’t leave him out there, luckily (Matt) Blais came in and limited the damage.”
Blais, a junior, induced a double play ball to end the inning and limit the damage.
The Lancers (12-1, 4-1) added two more runs in the top of the third, due mainly to a Michael Strem double and a dropped routine fly by Serra. The Padres had a rocky day afield, making four errors to only one for the Lancers.
Down 8-1 by the third inning, it looked like it was going to be an ugly afternoon for the Padres (10-2, 4-1). However, Serra had a huge bottom of the third, scoring six runs highlighted by a three-run home run by Christian Conci to deep left-center field. The Padres were now back in the game only trailing by two runs.
“I knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” said St. Francis Coach Mike Oakland, “They were going to make a comeback, it was just matter of time.”
The Lancers were threatening to have another big inning in the top of the fourth, after hitting three consecutive singles off Blais as well as a run-producing hit by junior Tyler Deason who went 3-for-4 with three RBI.
Gianinno then summoned for Watkins, who two weeks ago was starting at guard for the Padres basketball team in the NorCal regionals.
Used to the tension after a season full of pressure-packed basketball games, Watkins came through like a champ.
There were two runners on when the cool junior took the hill, but he shut the Lancers down over the final four innings, allowing no runs and just one hit.
Watkins received some help in the fourth inning from a base running error when Murray, the first baseman, caught a runner stranded between second and third by making a perfect throw to second baseman Dalvin Martin who tagged the runner out.
“Watkins is a competitive kid,” Gianinno said. “He's tough-minded. He wanted to finish that thing. There was no way he was coming out of that game.”
In the bottom of the fifth, the Padres scored three runs, led by a two-run double by Mickey McDonald and an RBI single by Murray that stood up as the eventual game-winner. Murray had three RBI on the day.
“We had a big offensive day,” said Murray, “We battled hard and now we're going to enjoy this win.”
Watkins set the hard-hitting Lancers down over the final few innings without much difficulty.
“I felt good on the mound," he said. "It was fun pitching out there -- they have some great hitters."
