Although the Anzar baseball team held a 4-2 lead entering the
bottom of the sixth inning, host Trinity Christian posted a 5-spot
in the sixth to leapfrog the Hawks en route to a key 7-6 win in
Coastal Athletic League play on Monday.
MONTEREY
Although the Anzar baseball team held a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning, host Trinity Christian posted a 5-spot in the sixth to leapfrog the Hawks en route to a key 7-6 win in Coastal Athletic League play on Monday.
It was the first loss of the regular season for Anzar (7-1, 9-10), which could have wrapped up the CAL title with a win on Monday. Instead, the Hawks sit at 7-1 in the CAL with Trinity Christian at 6-2 — and the two teams will meet in San Juan Bautista today, Thursday, with a winner-take-all scenario.
Although a Trinity Christian win on Thursday would give the two schools identical records, the private Monterey school would have the edge as it would have taken two of three games against Anzar during the regular season.
Everything could have been settled on Monday, but Anzar could not hold its two-run lead with six outs to go.
Five runs in the sixth gave Trinity Christian a 7-4 lead going into the final frame, where the Hawks made some noise but couldn’t plate the tying run.
Anzar loaded the bases with no outs to start the seventh when Tanner McKinney scored on a pass ball, bringing the Hawks to within two runs. Nick Salgado then hit a sacrifice to the outfield to score Blake Selsor from third, but Nico Mendoza was caught trying to advance to third base on the play.
Instead of a runner on second with one out, the Hawks had no one on with two outs.
“We had our chances, clearly had our chances,” Anzar manager Andrew Barragan said.
Free bases may have been the difference, as Nick Salgado (5IP, 6K, 1HBP, 3BB, 4R) and Devon Parish (1/3IP, 1HBP, 5BB, 3R) combined for 10 free bases, including eight walks.
Meanwhile, Brian Fredrickson (1/3IP, 0H, 0R) closed out the sixth for Anzar, which will play Trinity Christian on Thursday in San Juan Bautista at 4 p.m.
ANZR — 003 001 2 — 6 5 2
TRIN — 010 015 X — 7 4 3
