Had Hollister High played its best game of the season in its
Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinal meeting with No. 2
seed St. Francis, the Balers may still not have won.
SAN JOSE – Had Hollister High played its best game of the season in its Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinal meeting with No. 2 seed St. Francis, the Balers may still not have won.
So when a sub-par effort was given by the seventh-seeded Balers vs. the Lancers at PAL Stadium Saturday, the result was more than predictable: St. Francis 10, Hollister 0 in six innings, a game shortened by the 10-run mercy rule.
Hollister (21-8) committed four errors, which led to seven unearned runs. St. Francis (27-7), one of the favorites to reach the final along with Serra, didn’t really need the help, thank you.
Needless to say, Baler skipper Neal Andrade was not happy with his club’s performance.
“I’m upset right now,” said Andrade immediately after the postgame handshake. “Don’t get me wrong. St. Francis is a quality team. But, we didn’t come up here to play. Our bench was dead. It was a bad effort and we were flat. Only a couple of guys were selling out. Maybe in a week or two, I’ll calm down, but now I’m upset.”
Not helping matters, the Balers were handicapped going into the game when their leading hitter, Eric Diaz Jr., was scratched from the lineup due an injury suffered in practice on Friday. He was replaced by junior Justin Patton, who batted third and played second base.
One Baler who bowed the neck in a tough situation was starting pitcher Nathan Rowe. Rowe (8-4) pitched well, retiring the Lancers in order in the first inning before giving up a 2-run homer to Jonathan Lieberman with none out in the second. That was the only home run hit by the Lancers, which was a tribute to Rowe. This Lancer team broke the school record for most home runs in a season with 33, breaking the old mark set way back in 1981.
Rowe’s efforts drew praise from St. Francis head coach Chris Bradford and Lancers shortstop Kyle Spraker.
“He pitched real well,” said Bradford of Rowe. “I can’t believe he’s their No. 2 pitcher.”
“He had an awesome curveball,” added Spraker, who doubled in a run and singled off Rowe. “He sometimes had trouble getting it over, but he’s a good pitcher.”
Five unearned runs were tallied by the Lancers in the fifth to break the game open. Lieberman chalked up RBI’s 3, 4 and 5 when he doubled into the right-center field gap with the bases loaded for an 8-0 lead.
St. Francis star Josh Lansford, who will attend San Jose State next year unless he’s drafted in the first two rounds, was 0-2 with a walk against Rowe until he muscled a single through the box in the sixth for the tenth and final run of the game.
The Balers did have some highlights to put in their scrapbook. Josh Badillo made a brilliant catch in the third inning when he tracked down a drive by Daniel Descalso at the wall in center.
Shortstop Nick Ramos, listed at about 80 per cent due a sore hamstring, made some smooth-fielding plays in his last game as a Baler. His over-the-shoulder catch in short left on a blooper by Matt Long with two out an two on in the fifth prolonged the game another inning. Ramos handled five other chances without a bobble, including a ball which caromed off the leg of Rowe for a 1-6-3 putout of Descalso in the sixth.
And Brett Fulgoni, playing right field, hustled in to snare a sinking liner from Ryan Lee in the fourth. Fulgoni, a junior, also had one of the Balers’ four hits.
Hollister threatened to score in fourth inning, but a baserunning gaffe and a lack of substituting a pinch-runner cost them a chance at a run, or even two. Ramos led off the inning with his second single off Lancers starter Alex Perkins (6-0), then was part of a successful hit-and-run with Patton to put runners on at first and third. Well, temporarily.
Patton got caught thinking about going to second on the sequence and was rundown for the inning’s first out. With a hampered Ramos on at third and with the middle infield back, Anthony Synegal bounded sharply to Spraker, but Ramos didn’t break on contact. The ball bounced off Spraker’s chest and rolled about six yards away towards the middle of the diamond. Spraker scooped up the ball, looked at Ramos at third, and wheeled to throw out Synegal on a bang-bang play at first. Andrade didn’t like the call and argued.
Perkins bore down to strike out the next hitter.
“That was my fault,” said Ramos. “I hesitated at first, then I thought I would have been thrown out because of my leg.”
“I was surprised he was still on the bag,” said Spraker. “We were playing back and conceding the run.”
Still, though Ramos’ run would have made the score 3-1 at the time, it probably wouldn’t have been the difference in the game.
Rowe, one of eight Baler seniors on the team, spoke about his club’s disappointing end to what was a good year, laced with a Tri-County Athletic League co-championship and a CCS DI victory over Aptos.
“This wasn’t the way I wanted to go out,” said Rowe. “But I pitched about as good as I could.”
And that’s all one can ask.
CCS I notes: Perkins, using an outstanding curveball, struck out seven and walked one. – St. Francis faces Wilcox at 7 p.m. in one semifinal on Wednesday, while Serra meets Mitty at 4 p.m. Both games are at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
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Rowe and Synegal; Perkins and Schields. WP-Perkins (6-0). LP-Rowe (8-4). HR – Lieberman (SF). 2B – Spraker (SF). 2 hits – Ramos (H); Spraker, Lieberman (SF). 5 RBI – Lieberman (SF). 2 RBI – Lee (SF).
