Anzar starting pitcher Nick Salgado had a simple goal entering Tuesday’s game with Pajaro Valley: Throw strikes.
Salgado did just that – striking out seven batters and allowing one hit over four innings – to lead the Hawks to their first win of the young season.
Anzar, which has goals of adding a third-straight Coastal Athletic League championship banner and a Central Coast Section playoff berth, entered Tuesday’s game expecting to win – and win easy. The Hawks didn’t disappoint.
Behind Salgado, who dominated in his four innings, Anzar ran away from the Grizzlies to win 10-0 in a shortened five-inning game.
Against Pajaro Valley, which hasn’t won a game in two years, Anzar head coach Sam Stewart expected an easy win, but was happy with what he saw from his team.
“We ran the bases well,” he said. “We swung the bats really well and threw the ball really well on the mound. We played well today.”
The Anzar blowout started almost instantly for the Hawks.
Salgado opened the game with an easy one-two-three inning, allowing three soft ground balls.
In the bottom of the first, Anzar erupted.
After a hard-hit out to start the inning by Brian Frederickson, the next five Anzar batters reached base. The Hawks – off four hits – batted around their lineup and scored five runs to break open the team’s second home game in the first inning.
It all started with a free base.
With one out, center fielder Sam Jimenez was hit by a pitch that bounced in the dirt in front of home plate. First baseman Aaron Grimes singled on the next pitch, sending Jimenez to third.
Two pitches later, Salgado helped himself with a drive to deep right field. Pajaro Valley’s right fielder mishandled the ball, allowing it to skip past him.
Both Jimenez and Grimes scored, giving Anzar a 2-0 lead.
“We put the ball in play and they made errors,” Salgado said. “We scored and took advantage of it. And for my part, getting a couple of RBIs out of it got my confidence up and I pitched better.”
The Hawks weren’t done, though. Catcher Tyler Hendrick followed with a double into the right-center field gap to drive in Salgado.
Josh Holtzclaw followed with a quick single, and Anzar’s lead grew to 4-0 with only one out.
Two batters later Isaiah Ornelas drove in Holtzclaw, who stole second base, to give Anzar it’s final run of the inning.
Despite throwing a quick inning in the first, the runs gave Salgado confidence and some breathing room, he said.
“It means everything,” Salgado said. “It gives you a good advantage. It gets you to not worry about much – just throw strikes. When you have that cushion you really don’t have to worry about anything. It worked.”
In the next three innings, Salgado dominated. He allowed four baserunners and struck out seven, including the final six outs.
“Having that cushion, you focus on the batter,” Salgado said. “It’s just you and that catcher and nothing else. You just need to throw strikes and that’s it.”
It was a big improvement over the season’s opening game for the Anzar ace, Stewart said. Salgado struggled to find the zone in the season-opening 7-7 tie to Watsonville. Tuesday, Salgado had control of all his pitches.
“Today, he had much better command,” Stewart said. “He threw a lot of strikes. He had command of his change-up and curveball. He had three pitches instead of one and he threw strikes. For him to have success, it’s pounding the strike zone and getting groundballs. Today, he did that.”
In Salgado’s four innings, Pajaro Valley sent a runner into scoring position twice – both times aided by Hawk errors.
On offense, the Hawks continued to roll, striking for five runs – again – in the second inning.
For the second inning in a row, Frederickson led off the inning, but this time he got on base because of a Pajaro Valley error. Taking advantage of the Grizzly mistake, Jimenez followed with a double to knock in the Hawks’ sixth run.
Grimes followed with another hit to drive in Jimenez, and Anzar jumped to a 7-0 lead.
Anzar scored three more times in the inning to take a 10-0 lead after two innings.
Holtzclaw drove the offense for the Hawks, going 2-2 with 3 RBIs.
The win gives Anzar a 1-1-1 record so far this year, as the Hawks try to gain enough points for a first-time berth in the CCS playoffs. That goal, though, will be tough regardless how good the team plays.
“If we keep playing that way, we can play with just about anybody,” Stewart said. “Our staring lineup is a good group of ballplayers and if we play the way we started that game, we can play with pretty much anybody. As far as the playoffs go, it’s continuing being consistent, especially in our preseason schedule. We have to do well.”
They still have a chance, though, and Stewart will make sure his team knows that.
“We have the team to win a league title,” he said. “It will be difficult to go into the playoffs. We were four points short (last year) but we have a chance to do it. If we play like last year we will have a chance.”
Anzar hosts Gonzales at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
