San Benito shows no let-up against visiting Alisal in convincing
15-1 win Saturday
HOLLISTER
Less than 24 hours after it suffered a tough-to-swallow 4-3 loss to Palma in 10 innings, the San Benito High baseball team came right back Saturday and delivered a convincing 15-1 victory over visiting Alisal.
The game was called after the top half of the fifth due to the 10-run rule. But despite the shortened contest, the ‘Balers pounded out 12 hits to improve to 2-1 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 6-3-1 overall.
“It was huge,” San Benito manager Michael Luna said. “For one, we just wanted to get back on the winning track and two, put that game (against Palma) behind us.”
Luna also wanted to see his team be more aggressive at the plate, with a goal for the hitter not to get two strikes against them.
“We were successful for the most part,” Luna added. “And we did a much better job with runners in scoring position.”
San Benito was 6 of 9 with runners in scoring position, to be exact, a far cry from Friday’s extra-inning battle with the Chieftains in which San Benito left nine runners on base, seven of whom were in scoring position.
“That was huge,” Luna said.
With strong pitching from starter Steve Cabral (4IP, 0R, 2H, 8K, 0HBP, 0BB) and reliever Trevor Fabing (1IP, 2H, 1R, 1K, 0HBP, 0BB), the ‘Balers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning, a 9-0 lead through two and a 15-0 lead through three complete innings.
Kyle Zozaya went 1-for-2 with four RBI, including a sacrifice fly in the first and a three-run homer in the second, while Ramiro Chapa was 2-for-2 for San Benito with three RBI, including a two-run double in the second and an RBI single in the third.
Sophomore Darin Gillies even chimed in with a bases-clearing double during the ‘Balers’ six-run third frame.
San Benito will continue with its home-and-home schedule and will visit Alisal Tuesday in Salinas, where ‘Baler Jacob Eichhorn is slated to start.
First pitch is at 4 p.m.
ALISAL – 000 01X X – 1 4 2
SAN BENITO 366 0XX X – 15 12 1
WP: S. Cabral
