San Jose – For the second-straight year, the San Benito baseball team will find itself in the Central Coast Section Division I championship game.
The Balers stunned No. 2 seeded St. Francis on Wednesday, beating the West Catholic Athletic League school 6-4 to set up a an early-season rematch with Valley Christian, which beat No. 1 seed Palo Alto 4-2.
The San Benito win was a stunner, though, especially after a first-inning of struggles for starter Anthony Ocampo and the team’s defense. Instead of being overwhelmed, the early deficit motivated the Balers.
“I was really happy to see we weren’t intimidated,” catcher Jacob Tonascia said. “They were looking really good when they came out and scored that run in the first inning. I just didn’t want anyone to get doubts in the game. We had to play as hard as we could no matter who we are playing. Instead of getting fear we got a little bit of hope to come out and beat them.”
San Benito trailed twice in the game, including by a 3-1 score after the fourth inning. But it didn’t matter, as the Balers made two, two-out rallies to overtake the favored Lancers, scoring once in the third inning and twice in the fifth to keep pace.
In the top of the seventh inning – tied 3-3 – the Balers looked like they were aiming for extra innings. But a solid single up the middle by shortstop Michael Breen woke the Balers.
Tonascia battled to a two-strike count, before hitting a flare in front of the Lancer center fielder Braden Bishop to knock in Breen, who stole second after a past ball.
“I saw the curve ball hang and I flicked it and got lucky,” Tonascia said.
The Balers weren’t done yet, as Ryan Jacob followed with a two-strike double – he advanced to third on an error – to drive in Tonascia and give the Balers a 5-3 lead.
The Balers added one more on an infield single by Jose Guzman. All six runs were scored off Lancer starter Ryan Degregorio, who went 6 2-3 innings.
“The kids just grinded out at-bats all game,” manager Billy Aviles said. “They went deep into counts so they saw his best stuff in their first two at-bats. So in their third and fourth at-bats, they were seeing the ball really well and they weren’t fooled. They battled the entire game.”
The Lancers threatened in the bottom of the inning – bringing the tying run to first base with one out – but were eliminated on a double play ball turned by Breen and Jacob.
“It was a great win,” Jacob said. “We don’t care who we are facing. We beat Mitty. It doesn’t make a difference when we are playing St. Francis. The guys play the best we can.”
San Benito was aided by four Lancers errors in the game, allowing three of the Balers’ runs to score. After the first inning, San Benito played cleaned.
But the game could have unraveled for the Balers early.
The Lancers jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning, bringing six batters to the plate and grabbing two hits. But the Lancers didn’t score until a dropped fly ball by right fielder Daniel Gonzalez proved costly.
Ocampo got out of the inning and retired nine-straight batters before allowing the Lancers to threaten again. Overall, Ocampo went four plus innings, allowing three runs and five hits. Skyler Fuss closed the win, throwing the final three innings.
“They are seniors and they did what they did all year long,” Aviles said. “They came in and threw strikes and gave us a chance to win. Pitching, defense and timely hitting are the keys to winning championships and right now, we are pitching the ball pretty well.”
The Balers will play Valley Christian on Saturday at 7 p.m. at San Jose Municipal Stadium. The Warriors beat the Balers twice to open the season, outscoring San Benito 16-2 over the two games.
“Hopefully, we can win the last one,” Aviles said. “It’s been our goal the entire year. We’ve given ourselves the opportunity and we are going to come out and we are going to battle. Hopefully, we win the last one this year.”
