San Benito loses 2-0 against Leland in round 1 of the CCS
Division 1 playoffs
It it not often that a game between the No. 13 seed and a No. 4 seed will end in a 2-0 score.
San Benito played error-free ball in the first round of the Central Coast Section baseball playoffs at Leland on Wednesday, but it is No. 4Leland who will move on to face Valley Christian in the quarterfinals.
“This is the ball game that we have been playing the whole second half of the season,” said Baler coach Derek Barnes. “This second half has really been great. We grew as a team, and we grew talent wise. As loud as Leland was, it was like a Major League park. We just came in here and played our style of baseball.”
San Benito (16-15) ended its season by winning the last five of seven games. Leland (19-12-2) advances to the CCS quarterfinals to face Valley Christian.
“They are absolutely one of the best teams here,” said Leland coach Scott Gillis. “They are very good athletes and are very competitive. It took our best pitcher to have his best day to beat them.”
The Haybalers lived on the edge for most of the game, but the defense consistently came up with big plays to get out of innings and end scoring threats.
There were three times in the game that the Balers picked off runners between second and third base to end innings.
“It was a little bit of a communication breakdown,” Gillis said. “We are fortunate it didn’t hurt us, but it could have against a team like San Benito. Them being a 13th seed says an awful lot about the league they are in.”
In the sixth inning, catcher Anthony Synegal fired a quick ball back to first to pick off the runner leaning too far. The Balers rushed off the field fired up for the seventh inning.
In the seventh inning, Seth Hudson, who came in off the bench, got things started with a walk. And Drew Quintana had a hit up the middle. Jason Sims laid down a bunt to move the runners over.
But Leland pitcher Kyle Woodruff got the final batters to line out and ground out.
“It was intense,” Hudson said. “We are like a Cinderella story even though we didn’t win. I think their pitcher had to work harder today than he worked all season.”
Woodruff had eight strikeouts, and Patton had four.
“I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff today,” Patton said. “But my defense really came up big.”
Woodruff has lost just once this year – in a tournament game against Santa Cruz.
“He had a good change-up early,” Barnes said. “His fastball was really explosive because he was setting it up with the change-up. He threw offspeed real well, but we made adjustments.”
Both pitchers were able to benefit from a liberal outside corner awarded by the umpire. In the sixth inning, Patton struck out the first two batters looking but then hit the next two and was relieved by Sims.
Sims threw just one pitch before Synegal picked off the runner at first for the final out.
There was just one inning that Patton faced just three batters. That was in the fourth inning when second baseman Drew Quintanta dove to catch a line drive. He flipped the ball back to shortstop Karson Klauer to complete the double play.
“It was just reaction,” Quintana said.
The Balers struggled early in the game to get anything going offensively. Through the first three innings, they had just a walk by Synegal and a hit by Quintana. Even Quintana’s hit was difficult. He flared a ball to right field and only a last-second slide helped him to get by the return throw.
“He was playing in a little,” Quintana said. “It caught me a little off guard because I didn’t think he would get it in that quickly.”
In addition to the seventh inning, San Benito had two really good chances to score. In the fifth inning, Klauer and Anthony Vasquez had back-to-back singles with one out.
But with two outs, the umpire lost track of the count. As he looked around for some help, both coaches frantically pleaded their cases. After he decided on a verdict, Mike Lango received a 1-2 count instead of the 1-1 count contested by Barnes. Lango, who was batting as the designated hitter, struck out.
“He said it was 1-2 but the pitcher only had thrown two pitches,” Barnes said. “He took a pitch away from us. Who knows what he (Lango) does with another pitch. But I can’t argue because that was what the home book had.”
The Balers had another good chance in the sixth after a single and throwing error by the shortstop allowed Synegal to reach second base. With Synegal at third and one out, Brett Fulgoni hit a fly ball to left. The fielder made a perfect throw home to gun down Synegal trying to slide around the tag.
In the third inning, left fielder Scott Mead got a good read on a fly ball and chased it down in center field as he dove to catch the ball.
“I didn’t think I would get there,” Mead said. “At the end, I didn’t really dive but fell.”
Leland scored a run in the second inning on a double by Anthony Trovato.
“You could tell they are a fastball hitting team,” Barnes said. “They could not make adjustments. Even the balls they hit weren’t hit very hard. He (Patton) found the curve ball and found the change-up and was able to use it effectively in situations to get outs.”
Most of the the Baler team will be back next year.
“If we have to play this game again next year, it will be a lot tougher because of the experience San Benito gained here,” Willis said.
