Spring Break ended on a strong note Friday for the San Benito
baseball team.
San Jose – Spring Break ended on a strong note Friday for the San Benito baseball team.
Now it’s time to shift into another gear and get ready to return to Tri-County Athletic League play.
“We’ll try to redirect ourselves back into league play,” Haybalers coach Michael Luna said after his team’s 7-5 victory over Santa Cruz in the consolation finals of the Valley Christian/San Jose Sharks Crown Classic.
San Benito went 6-3 over the break, also taking third in the Serra Knights of Columbus Classic. Seven of those games were against teams that are at least tied for first place in their respective leagues.
“We’re definitely battle-tested, which is going to help us in league and in the playoffs,” Luna said.
The Cardinals took the early advantage, scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning with three straight singles off San Benito pitcher Jacob Eichhorn.
But the ‘Balers came back in the third. Kevin Gonzales started it with a leadoff walk. He moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, advanced to third on a stolen base and after Justin Andrade drew a two-out walk, Gonzales scored and Andrade went to second on a wild pitch. Andrade eventually scored when Bryan Scott delivered a single to make it 2-1 San Benito.
In the fourth, the ‘Balers stretched the lead. Ronnie Fhurong got a one-out single, stole second and scored on a Kevin Burley double. Gonzales grounded out to move Burley to third and Greg Huth delivered a two-out, two-strike single up the middle to score Burley.
Huth then used some aggressive baserunning to stretch the lead. He stole second and third, and when the throw went wild he raced home to make it 5-1.
“He’s been anxious the entire year to get some playing time,” Luna said of Huth, who also delivered a two-out single in the sixth to provide an insurance run. “He’s such a good kid, I like to see him be successful.”
San Benito nearly saw the wheels come off in the bottom of the fifth. Nathan Hopkins worked himself into a bases-loaded, no-out jam. He fought back to strike out No. 2 batter Elie Kass and then got Matt England to fly out to right field. Gonzales made the catch and fired a strong throw to home that was in time to cut down Alex Taku, but the ball took a hop on catcher Kyle Zozaya and got past him to allow the run to score.
Hopkins struck out the next batter, but the third strike went to the backstop as another run scored. Dylan Gavin followed by reaching on an error to plate another run and when Hopkins attempted to pick off Gavin at second, the ball went into centerfield as another run scored to make it 6-5.
A groundout to second finally ended the inning. Huth delivered his clutch hit in the seventh to scored Fhurong to make it a two-run lead.Miles Sanchez pitched two scoreless innings to end the game and earn the save.
“We had that domino effect where one mistake leads to another,” Luna said. “But that’s baseball. I try to tell them you can never relax because that’s what happens.”
San Benito will take the weekend off before resuming practice Monday. League play begins again at 4pm Tuesday when the ‘Balers travel to face North Salinas. They’ll host Palma at 4pm Thursday.
Huth finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Andrade was 2 for 3 with a double and two runs scored, and Fhurong was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. Scott also had two RBIs.
San Benito 002 311 0 – 7 9 3
Santa Cruz 010 040 0 – 5 7 4
Garcia, Eichhorn (2), Hopkins (4), Sanchez (6) and Zozayo. Taku, Gemme (4), Myers (7) and Amaro. WP – Eichhorn, LP – Taku, S – Sanchez.
RBI – Scott (SB) 2, Huth (SB), Burley (SB). 2B – Haggett (SB), Andrade (SB), Burley (SB).
JV in Carmel Title Game
The San Benito junior varsity baseball team advanced to the championship game of the Carmel Tournament with a 12-1 win Thursday over Gilroy.
The ‘Balers are 4-0 in the tournament, having outscored their opponents 50-6. They opened the tournament Saturday by beating King City 18-5 and Harbor 10-0. They followed with a 10-0 win Tuesday over Palma, before routing Gilroy to advance to today’s title game.
San Benito will be playing either Monterey or Salinas.
