Just four days after teammate Dustin Rovella pitched an
eight-inning, three-hit shutout against Wilcox in the CCS
quarterfinals, Bryan Granger improbably followed up with a
seven-inning no-hitter against No. 8 Salinas (19-10-1) on Wednesday
in the CCS semifinals, as the No. 5 Balers (22-8) dropped the
Cowboys 5-0 and advanced to what will be just their second
appearance in the Division I championship game.
SAN JOSE
Bryan Granger said he didn’t change a thing from his last outing against Salinas about a month ago. That may have been hard to believe following his performance on Wednesday night, though.
“I just hit my spots a lot better,” said the San Benito senior, moments after he tossed a no-hitter in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals, against a team he had pitched against twice already this season.
It’s supposed to be more difficult the more often you face a team, the more often they see you pitch. But despite previously facing off against the Cowboys twice in the last two months, Granger didn’t alter his approach, or add a pitch, or change much of anything before Wednesday’s game at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Just placement over power.
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“I didn’t try to blow it by guys, I just hit my spots. That’s all I worked on,” Granger said. “They know me. They’ve already seen me twice this year. That’s all you can do is hit your spots.”
And if Salinas didn’t know, they do now.
Just four days after teammate Dustin Rovella pitched an eight-inning, three-hit shutout against Wilcox in the CCS quarterfinals, Granger improbably followed up with a seven-inning no-hitter against Salinas (19-10-1) on Wednesday in the CCS semifinals, as the No. 5 Balers (22-8) dropped the No. 8 Cowboys 5-0 and advanced to what will be just their second appearance in the Division I championship game this weekend.
“We’ve pitched well all year long. That’s been our strength all year,” San Benito interim manager Billy Aviles said afterward. “But what can you say? A no-no? Seriously?”
Little of what has transpired this season for the Balers has gone according to script.
But perhaps even more improbable, San Benito will have accomplished as much without having faced a member school of the West Catholic Athletic League, which has finished as both the champion and the runner-up team in the Division I bracket the last three straight years. In fact, the last time the Balers were in the CCS title game, in 2007 against the WCAL’s Valley Christian, was the last time a public school made the Division I championship.
But Saturday’s D-I final will pit San Benito against No. 3 Palo Alto (27-9), which dropped the last remaining WCAL team in Mitty by a 5-2 margin on Wednesday night. For the first time since 2004, two public schools will go head-to-head for the CCS title.
“They’re both good clubs,” Aviles said Wednesday, prior to knowing which team his Balers would square off against — Palo Alto or Mitty. “They’re both solid. They can swing the bat, play catch and they can pitch. It’ll be a good matchup.”
First pitch is Saturday at 7 p.m. at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Whether Granger will be available to pitch come Saturday remains up in the air, but the Cal Poly-bound hurler only threw 85 pitches on Wednesday.
“We’ll see,” said Granger, who now has two career no-hitters, including last season’s no-hit shutout against Alisal on April 17.
The senior right-hander was noticeably on from the first pitch Wednesday, as well as the last. Striking out three of the first six batters he faced, as well as the side in the seventh, Granger finished seven innings of work with seven strikeouts, three walks and one hit-batsman. He even retired Salinas in order in each inning but the sixth and seventh.
“There was really no difference. Bryan is just a fantastic pitcher and he showed it today,” Salinas manager Art Hunsdorfer said. “I think the difference today between the other two times is, we’ve noticed he’s a little bit of a slower starter at first. But today, from pitch one, he was on his game. He’s always been a great pitcher and he gets stronger as time goes on.
“When he started out the way he did, I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. He’s only gonna get stronger.’ And he did.”
In his two prior games against Salinas, Granger went 1-1 against the Cowboys and gave up nine runs on eight hits. On Wednesday, there wasn’t anything of the sort.
“Seeing each other this many times, it’s difficult,” Granger said. “As you could see … it was only a two-run ball game up until the sixth.”
Up until the sixth, hits weren’t all that more plentiful for the Balers, who were limited to just three hits in the first five innings, none of which actually knocked in a run.
San Benito scored one in the first inning — taking advantage of two walks and a sac bunt — when Ryan Jacob ripped a hard-hit grounder off the third baseman’s glove, resulting in a fielding error that allowed Matt Vallejo to score from second.
An inning later, San Benito had the bases loaded following two singles when Salinas starter Ryan Bangs (3IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 2K, 4BB, 1HBP) threw one pitch wide of the catcher. The ball went all the way to the backstop, and Craig Slibsager sprinted home for the game’s second run.
Despite the small cushion early on, though, Granger wasn’t giving up much of anything. The Cowboys had their first base runner in the third following a leadoff walk, and had their best chance to find the scoreboard in the sixth after Granger issued two more base on balls.
But in both instances, the Cowboys couldn’t connect on the much-needed hit. In the third, the shortstop Jacob made a catch in shallow left field before doubling up the base runner at second, while in the sixth, with two runners in scoring position, Granger induced a ground ball to first base.
“I walked a couple of guys, got into the stretch and kind of got lazy,” Granger said of the sixth inning. “But I pitched out of it.”
And to make matters easier in the seventh, his team tacked on three insurance runs in the home half of the inning off reliever Colby Genasci (3IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, 2K, 0BB, 2HBP). A sac fly by Matt Vallejo scored Dustin Rovella from third base, while back-to-back RBI singles from Marcus Sabatte and Jacob Tonascia scored Slibsager and Daniel Arevalo, respectively.
“Huge,” Aviles said of the sixth, which started with two consecutive caught-off-guard bunt singles by Rovella and Slibsager. “Those insurance runs were huge. Takes a big load off, gives us a good cushion and kind of lets Bryan breathe a little bit.”
Which, in a no-hit bid, might ease the tension only slightly.
“It’s kind of hard not to, seeing the scoreboard right there,” said Granger, who knew of his no-hit bid, but by the superstitious laws of baseball players was never made aware of it by his teammates.
“I wasn’t worried about it. I just wanted to win a ball game,” he added. “Chances of throwing a no-hitter in CCS? Not that good. I just wanted to win a ball game.”
SALN — 000 000 0 — 0 0 2
SANB — 110 003 X — 5 7 0
WP: B. Granger
LP: R. Bangs
