San Benito lost a pair of games in the championship round of the
Peninsula Easter Classic on Wednesday at Gavilan College.
San Benito lost a pair of games in the championship round of the Peninsula Easter Classic on Wednesday at Gavilan College.
The Haybalers (10-11, 3-5 TCAL) opened up the tournament with three consecutive victories and will play their final game of the tournament Friday at 10 p.m. at North County.
In the first game Wednesday, San Benito lost 9-5 to Monterey, and in the second game, the Balers lost 14-2 against Castroville.
“We played decent the first game, but we kind of squandered some opportunities,” said Baler coach Derek Barnes. “It was closer than the final score. We had some calls go against us early in the game, but it is not the umpire’s fault when you lose a game.”
After Monterey got on the board first, the Balers came back to tie 2-2. Anthony Synegal hit a fly ball that was dropped to allow Breyon Canez to score the first run. Karson Klauer scored on a sacrifice fly by Drew Quintana.
But in the fifth inning, Monterey broke the game open with five runs. With the bases loaded and two outs, Monterey got back-to-back singles. Canez took the loss for the Balers.
A 12-hit performance by Castroville in the second game was too much for San Benito.
“We didn’t play a bad game, but they hit the crud out of the ball,” Barnes said. “They just kept adding it on, and it got out control in a hurry. Every team will run into at least one opponent during the year that will hit better. When your down early, it is tough to come back.”
The Balers got in a bit of hole in the second inning after giving up four runs to make it 6-2. And Castroville opened the door with two home runs in another inning – one was a grand slam and the other was three-run jack.
San Benito will try to finish with a 4-2 record in the tournament Friday.
JV Note: The San Benito JV team (16-2, 6-2 TCAL) defeated visiting Scott’s Valley 5-2 on Wednesday.
The Haybalers had just five hits but made them count. Jacob Boyd was 2 for 3 and Brenden Flaherty was 1 for 3 with a double and RBI. Travis Ross and Ryan McFall were both 1 for 1 with singe RBIs. McFall’s hit was the game winner.
Dean Wilkins (2-0) picked up the win, going 3 2/3 innings. Kyle Ferguson, who finished off the rest of the game, came in with two outs and bases loaded in the fourth inning and got a strikeout to end the inning, keeping Scott’s Valley from scoring.
