SAN JOSE - Wilcox baseball distinguishes itself with the hash tag #ItsAWayOfLife, and on Saturday night at San Jose Municipal Stadium, the Chargers could have complemented that tag with #ccschampions after completing a 4-2 victory over Westmont in the Central Coast Section Division I title game.
Already up 1-0 in the bottom of the third, Wilcox third baseman Eric Mendonca grounded a ball into left field for a one-out single, and then promptly stole second base. Adam Rios then walked, and following a Lorenzo Martinez fly out to center, the Chargers still had two runners on base.
Junior center fielder Bradley Wilson delivered.
Wilson lined an 0-2 pitch down the left field line for a double, and although was caught at third trying to stretch his hit into a triple, both Mendonca and Rios scored, giving Wilcox a 3-0 lead.
“I just tried to get my pitch and drive it where I could get it,” said Wilson. “I did what I had to do, and I’m happy I got it done.”
After Westmont closed to 3-2, Wilcox added another run in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and Santino Delgado standing on second base for the Chargers, Andrew Najeeb-Brush grounded a ball to first base that could have ended the inning, but was tossed over the head of pitcher Riley Fong by first baseman Kyler Thompson, allowing Delgado to score on the play and making the score 4-2.
Najeeb-Brush returned to the mound in the top of the seventh to shut the game down, and did so with ease. After a leadoff single from Hans Hesse, Najeeb-Brush struck out Tony Maniglia looking, Ethan Go swinging, and finally, after an 11-pitch at bat with Brandon Nishijima, got the batter to ground back to the box.
Najeeb-Brush took the ball all the way to first base himself to secure the victory for the Chargers, and was then mobbed on the infield grass by his teammates.
“I had a few innings left in me, and I was always ready to come out,” said Najeeb-Brush on his shutdown seventh, who also threw a five-hitter in Thursday’s semifinal against Menlo-Atherton. “I knew it would be close to Thursday, I was just hoping for the same outcome and I’m very happy with it.”
Westmont’s two runs came in the top of the fourth, starting with a leadoff single from Danny Speciale. Speciale was moved up to second on a Matty Hearn bunt, and then to third on a Fong grounder to the pitcher. Mike Morbo then singled in Speciale to make the score 3-1 at the time, continuing his hit streak to 13 games.
Morbo then advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on a Hesse infield single, and then scored on a Maniglia single to left, making the score 3-2.
Fong did the bulk of the pitching work for Westmont, lasting the final 3 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit while striking out three. The first three Wilcox runs and the loss were all charged to Warriors starter Willie McMullen.
The loss concludes Westmont’s season with a 23-10 overall record. San Jose Municipal Stadium has not been friendly to the Warriors, who have yet to win a CCS Championship and are 2-5 at the venue in playoff history.
Despite the tough numbers, Westmont coach Tony Pianto still told his players to end things on a positive note.
“Keep your heads high,” said Pianto to his players. “Don’t let this be the end of the season memory for you. We had a great season. Yes, we want to be on the winning end; we wanted to be there, we fought for that.”
As for Wilcox, which finishes at 26-6, the title is the school's first since 2008 and the fifth overall.
“Its awesome,” said Chargers coach Paul Rosa. “We’ve been consistent these past 15-20 years, and it’s just awesome to get our fifth one.”
“They’re the tightest group I have ever coached. They really like each other, they were great bench guys, team guys; nobody ever had a problem, it was awesome.”
