Behind 15 hits, including multi-hit games by Cameron Brann, Cory
Jacob, Zackry Moeller and Enrique Rodriguez, the local Babe Ruth
14-year-olds once again opened up the run-scoring flood gates
against Tracy on Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Park in
Hollister, scoring eight runs in the second inning en route to an
easy 16-3 title-winning victory that was called in the fifth inning
due to the 10-run rule.
HOLLISTER
Angel Rueda wasn’t joking when he said his team had been struggling offensively earlier this week, even if the numbers suggest otherwise.
Through its first two games of the Central California District 1 State Qualifier Tournament, the San Benito 14-year-old All-Stars defeated Modesto and Lodi by a combined 31-5 margin.
“I know the numbers don’t seem that way, like Modesto was 20-2. But we had a ton of walks,” said Rueda, who manages the local Babe Ruth squad. “And I know the score against Lodi was 11-3, but up until the later innings, it was only 5-3. They held us.”
Sometimes the numbers do lie.
Rueda considers Thursday night’s District 1 championship against Tracy as a bit of a turning point, though, even if the numbers appear to be in line with San Benito’s averages.
Behind 15 hits, including multi-hit games by Cameron Brann, Cory Jacob, Zackry Moeller and Enrique Rodriguez, the local Babe Ruth 14-year-olds once again opened up the run-scoring flood gates against Tracy on Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Park in Hollister, scoring eight runs in the second inning en route to an easy 16-3 title-winning victory that was called in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule.
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San Benito will now advance to the Central California State Tournament as the District 1 representative, after having defeated its three opponents by a 47-8 margin.
Not bad for a struggling offense.
“We had been struggling with the bat lately,” Rueda said. “We had been saying all along that we need our bats to come alive, and finally they did. We had been waiting and waiting and waiting, and we had to shake up the lineup a little bit. We had to start a few other guys and I think it really helped out, really rejuvenated the other guys. That second inning was huge.”
The eight-run second inning was the difference Thursday, although it was just a few keys plays away from never transpiring at all for San Benito.
Knotted at 1-all through one complete inning, San Benito had runners on the corners with one out in the second frame when a pop fly by Tony Amaral to right field resulted in an error, scoring Justin Goodwin. The second out, which should have been the inning-ending third out for Tracy, followed one batter later.
“Just that one error,” Tracy manager Jesse Hernandez said. “We had an error in the second inning and it should have been 1-1, but instead it was 9-1. That killed us.”
Tracy had another chance of salvaging the inning one batter later, too, when starting pitcher Chaz Samaniego (1.2IP, 7H, 9R, 2HBP) worked the count in his favor against San Benito’s Enrique Rodriguez, who was in the hole 0-2 with two outs and two runners in scoring position.
But Rodriguez bounced the next offering past the Tracy shortstop and into left field, scoring Garret Kelly and Amaral and pushing San Benito ahead 4-1.
“He gave me a fastball and I just did what I could do with it,” said Rodriguez, who was 2 of 4 on Thursday with four RBI. He added a two-RBI double to deep left field in the top half of the fourth as well.
“We had a little trouble hitting the ball, but once everyone started putting the ball in play it started going our way and we started scoring a lot of runs,” Rodriguez added.
Later in the second inning, Marcus Rueda lined a two-RBI single into center field, scoring Rodriguez and Moeller and knocking Samaniego from the game.
Tracy reliever David Henneson (.1IP, 1H) entered with the bases loaded and threw two pitches to Hunter Haworth, who lifted the second offering down the left-field line and cleared the bases, extending the inning and San Benito’s lead to 9-1.
“There was a little more velocity on the pitcher, so we hit a lot more line drives,” Rodriguez said. “We got lucky hitting the gaps. We put the ball in play and strung a lot of hits together.”
When the dust settled, the second inning saw San Benito send 12 batters to the plate, connect on six hits and score eight runs.
“That was huge,” Rueda said of the second frame.
The remainder of the contest played out similarly, although without the ongoing onslaught that transpired in the second. While Tracy responded with a pair of runs in the home half of the inning, San Benito continued its offensive push in the third, when Cameron Brann hit an RBI infield single, and again in the fourth behind Rodriguez’s two-RBI double and Brann’s second RBI single.
San Benito tacked on two more runs in the fifth, highlighted by Cory Jacob’s RBI single up the middle.
“We always talk about pitching, pitching, pitching. But at the same time, you’ve got to make sure your bats are going,” Rueda said. “If your bats aren’t going, pitching is only gonna keep you in a 0-0 ball game.”
San Benito starting pitcher Justin Goodwin lasted two innings, surrendering three runs on four hits, although two of those runs were unearned after his teammates made two errors behind him.
“I called timeout and I went to go talk to the team actually, I didn’t talk to [Goodwin],” Rueda said. “I said, ‘You’re doing great. I can’t ask for anything more from you.’ But I told the boys they’ve got to pick it up. They’re All-Stars and they need to play a little bit better than that.”
San Benito made just one more error in the game, while relievers Jacob Trujillo (2IP, 1H, 0R, 2K, 1BB, 1HBP) and Garret Kelly (1IP, 1H, 0R, 1K) closed out the win for San Benito.
The local 14-year-old All-Stars will open the Central California State Tournament in San Luis Obispo on July 15 against the District 8 representative, while Tracy advances as well, and will square off against the host team, San Luis Obispo.
San Benito 15s
The San Benito Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars defeated Lodi 13-3 on Thursday night at Lodi’s Kofu Park to claim the Central California District 1 State Qualifier Tournament.
The game was called in the sixth inning due to the 10-run rule.
It was the second time San Benito had defeated Lodi in the District 1 tournament. The local 15-year-old All-Stars also previously defeated Tracy 16-6 and Modesto 13-4 to go 4-0 for the tournament.
Details were not reported at press time.
San Benito will travel once again to Lodi to open the Central California State Tournament on July 15.
