San Benito crushes the competition

A year ago, the San Benito 14-and-under Babe Ruth All-Star team suffered heartbreak in the state tournament, losing a winner’s bracket semifinal in agonizing fashion before getting eliminated the following day.
“That game has been on our mind since last year,” San Benito coach David Marquez said. “We wanted to get to this point and win it, and the kids played unbelievable. They played like they had something to prove.”
Did they ever. San Benito wasn’t challenged in the state tournament in Lodi, going 4-0 and outscoring teams by a combined margin of 34-8. San Benito opens up Pacific Southwest Regional play against tournament host Surprise of Arizona on July 28.
In the state tournament championship game on July 16, San Benito defeated Hanford 7-0 behind Jake Ito’s complete-game masterpiece.
“Jake wanted the ball in the finals,” said Marquez, who is also an assistant coach at San Benito High.
Ito also pitched the team to victory in the team’s tournament opener, a 7-2 victory over the same Ker West team that gave San Benito fits in 2013. A year ago, San Benito was on the verge of advancing to the finals, leading by four runs with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
Needing just one more out to seal the outcome, San Benito couldn’t finish. Ito was on the mound for that fateful seventh, and Marquez said he had no doubt the team would close things out this time.
Marquez has actually known most of the players on the team since they were 8 years old, having coached them for the Hollister Headhunters, a traveling club team.
“These kids are good,” Marquez said. “They’re humble, they respect the game and they’re serious about wanting to play well in the regionals.”
San Benito has a quality pitching corps in Ito, Nick Christian, Isaiah Bueno and Ryan Jameson, who pitched three solid innings in the team’s 9-4 victory over Lodi in the winner’s bracket semifinal.
Jameson’s appearance was all the more inspiring considering he suffered an arm injury just prior to the start of the All-Star season. When they weren’t pitching, Bueno (infielder) and Christian (shortstop) proved to be standouts both offensively and defensively.
They were named to the state all-tournament team along with Marquez’s son, Mason, who plays pitcher/second base/shortstop, and catcher Tyler Triano, who was named the tourney’s Most Valuable Player.
Marquez said everyone on the 12-player roster possesses a special attribute, whether it’s on offense, defense, or in the intangibles.
“Whenever I make a substitution, I don’t lose anything in any aspect of the game,” he said. “That’s the confidence I have in all of the kids.”
The 2014 14-and-under San Benito Babe Ruth All-Star roster: Manager—Anthony Hernandez. Coaches—David Marquez and Matt Christian. Players—Garrett Bourdet, Isaiah Bueno, Nick Christian, Marco Gaitan, Adam Hernandez, Jake Ito, Ryan Jameson, Zach Livingston, Mason Marquez, Eugene McBride, Ryan Quinby, Tyler Triano. Bat boy—Tucker Bourdet.