San Benito f
Hollister
After marching through the first part of their league schedule, where they beat every opponent twice, the San Benito Haybalers suffered their first league loss of the season Saturday, falling 3-1 to visiting Palma.
San Benito is now 12-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League, and holds a two-game lead for first place on the 10-3 Chieftains with just five games remaining.
“The bad news is that it hurts,” manager Michael Luna said. “The bright side is that we have a two-game lead.”
Palma’s Jarrel Morris threw a complete game and allowed three hits – just one up until the seventh inning. Using an array of off-speed pitches, Morris struck out seven ‘Balers and pitched a no-hitter into the fourth.
Although he hit seven batsmen, Morris got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and forced San Benito to leave eight runners on base, five of whom were in scoring position.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, San Benito loaded the bases with one out, but hit into a 5-3 double play to end the game.
“He definitely had us off-balance the entire game, with the exception of that last inning where I thought we might have won this,” Luna said. “This one hurts. This one hurts a lot. One hit up until the seventh inning – that says it all right there.”
Although San Benito’s mistakes were few, Luna noted the importance of playing near-perfect against solid teams like Palma. For instance, the Chieftains had first and third with two outs in the second inning and got on the scoreboard first after the ‘Balers committed a throwing error.
A single to left field in the fourth inning from Kevin Burley broke Morris’ no-hitter, while Burley would later score to tie the game on a wild base-running play that had Dane Lamanna in a pickle between first and second base.
With Burley at third base, Lamanna stayed away from Palma just long enough that Burley was able to score from third, and tie the game at 1-all.
But the Chieftains scored the go-ahead run the following inning on a wild pitch to home plate, and later added an insurance run in the seventh when Stephen Dotseth connected on an RBI single to left field.
“We’ve just got to realize that when you play quality teams, your mistakes have to be at a minimum or zero,” Luna said. “The best thing is that we came back and gave ourselves a chance to win the game. That’s a sign of a real good team.”
A single from Zach Canez and Brian Haggett’s double were the only other hits for the ‘Balers. Canez (5 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 K’s, 1 BB, 1 HBP) started on the mound for San Benito, and Miles Sanchez relieved (2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run).
San Benito (19-5 overall) will travel to Salinas to play Alisal on Tuesday.
PAL 010 010 1 – 3 9 0
SB 000 100 0 – 1 3 1
