Haybalers improve to 10-4 overall, 2-2 in league, going for
fourth straight today
Hollister – The San Benito High baseball team picked up its third-straight win on Friday, 3-2 over a competitive Milpitas squad in the opening round of the North Monterey County Tournament, played in Hollister.
“It was a well played, intense high-school game from the first inning on,” said Hollister head coach Michael Luna. “And we need a win like that, where it’s intense throughout the seven innings.”
Hollister starting pitcher Jason Sims didn’t exactly have his best stuff on Friday but the Sonoma-State bound senior pitched a solid game. His pitches had good movement and he was able to get out of jams on several occasions during the game.
“I didn’t feel 100 percent going into the game, but I battled and got it done,” said Sims, who had seven strikeouts on the day, including two straight to end the fourth and kill a Milpitas scoring “It was a good game for us. We were able to stay on top the whole time and that’s always good.”
Hollister played the role of away team on its own field for Friday’s tournament game and the Balers made the most of some early mistakes by the Trojans (5-3-2) to put a run on the board during the contest’s first at bats. Geno Fata made it to second base as Hollister’s number-two hitter thanks to a Milpitas error. Fata made it to third shortly after and then was brought across by Brian Rossi on a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
The Haybalers got some tremendous defense from center fielder Gabe Gaitan in the bottom of the first to retain their advantage on the scoreboard. Milpitas’ Tom Cardiel reached on a double as the Trojans’ lead-off man before Sims retired the next two batters he faced. Eric Ames was up next for Milpitas and he drilled a shot to right field. But Gaitan somehow caught up to the ball, got off of his feet and horizontal and made the grab out of a dead sprint.
The Trojans tied it up in the third on an interesting play at the plate that saw Cardiel steal home successfully. What was puzzling about the play was that Hollister catcher Seth Hudson, who had a great game behind the plate for the Balers, had the ball in his glove when Cardiel reached the plate. A bone-jarring collision between catcher and runner ensued and Hudson managed to hang onto the ball but the runner was called safe.
No matter though, Hollister’s Anthony Vasquez put the Balers up for good in the fourth.
Hudson led the inning off with a single and then moved over to second base thanks to a nice hit to shallow left by Rossi. Sims came through with a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position, setting Vasquez up for the RBI-opportunity.
Vasquez didn’t disappoint in the crucial situation with two outs on the board, slamming a shot up the middle to score both Hudson and Rossi and put Hollister up 3-1.
“I told the guys that if we’re fortunate enough to get into the playoffs, this is how the games are going to be,” Luna said. “But I’m real pleased with our effort today.
