Not a lot was expected from the Wilcox High baseball team heading into the season.
The Chargers have only four seniors and that's not usually a good thing for an aspiring league champion and Central Coast Section playoff entrant.
Wilcox didn't win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division -- Palo Alto did -- but the Chargers did tie for second place with Homestead after defeating the visiting Mustangs 5-3 Friday at Carney Lansford Field.
"I think we've come a long way this season and I think we're going to do really well in the playoffs," said winning pitcher Garret Ciuk. "At the beginning of the season we didn't think we'd be in this position. We thought we'd be a rebuilding team, but we've been doing better than we thought we would."
Ciuk, a left-hander, is one of the four seniors on the Charger roster. He'll play at College of San Mateo next season. He shut out the Mustangs until the seventh when they scored all of their runs.
"I felt good," said Ciuk of the seventh when he began to labor under the hot sun. "But obviously I wasn't getting it over the plate and when I was I was getting hit, so they took me out. But it's all right."
Ciuk gave up five hits, struck out six and walked five. He used a fastball, curve, knuckler, changeup and cutter to silence the Mustangs most of the way.
It seemed for a while that Wilcox scored the only runs it would need in the first inning on Nick Molina's two-run double. Molina had a big day at the plate, adding a single in the fourth inning and leading off the fifth with a solo home run to left field to put the Chargers ahead 5-0. It was Molina's first home run of the season after hitting five last season.
"It was a fastball and I got a good swing on it," he said. "It felt good coming off the bat. Coach (Paul) Rosa has spent some time with me in cage. I got a lot of reps. He's been telling me to trust my approach and to not be so anxious."
Said Rosa of Molina: "He kind of broke out today. He hasn't had a bad year, but for him he's had a slow year. He's our best hitter. That was really nice to see."
Despite a 5-4 loss to Homestead on Wednesday that all but dashed Wilcox's title hopes, Rosa has been pleased with the Chargers' efforts this season.
"We're not as deep as we've been before, talent-wise," he said. "But this team has played together and did all of the little things and it made a difference. We had a great regular season and hopefully we can have a good post-season."
Homestead pitcher Drew Strotman was disappointed in the loss, but is looking forward to the playoffs after giving up just four hits to the Chargers.
"I feel like I can pick it up a little next time and help the team out and maybe we can hit the ball a little bit better," Strotman said. "If we show up and play the way we know how, we'll be OK."
Homestead made some noise in the seventh when an RBI double by Craig Young and a two-run double by Lane Robinette moved the Mustangs to within two runs. But Adam Rios, who had surrendered the two-bagger to Robinette, retired the final Homestead hitter to get the final out.
Molina drove in three of Wilcox's runs. The others came home on a groundout by Lorenzo Martinez in the third and an RBI single by Stephen Jaramillo in the fourth.
Both teams now enter the SCVAL playoffs. No. 1 seed Palo Alto will host No. 4 Saratoga at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. No. 3 Homestead returns to Wilcox on Tuesday to meet the No. 2 Chargers.
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and followed on Twitter @PrepCat
