After dropping its first two games to open the 2010-11 season,
the San Benito High baseball team delivered back-to-back victories
over Santa Clara and Monterey last week in the Mike Hazlett
Tournament at Santa Clara’s Washington Park.
SANTA CLARA
After dropping its first two games to open the 2010-11 season, the San Benito High baseball team delivered back-to-back victories over Santa Clara and Monterey last week in the Mike Hazlett Tournament at Santa Clara’s Washington Park.
Follow Free Lance Sports on Twitter.
The two wins, which were coming on the heels of a pair of losses to Valley Christian and Santa Cruz, even the Balers’ record at 2-2 overall on the season.
On Thursday, San Benito rebounded from its tournament-opening loss to Santa Cruz (3-2 L) to earn a 6-1 victory over Santa Clara behind five innings of one-hit baseball by pitcher Darin Gillies (5IP, 1R, 1ER, 1H, 11K).
Gillies struck out 11 batters during the five-run win, while Robert Soto (1IP, 1H, 1K) and Skyler Fuss (1IP, 1H, 3K) spelled the San Benito senior in relief.
The Balers connected on seven hits in the game, with Matt Vallejo providing the only multi-hit game. Vallejo had two hits, including a triple, and knocked in one run and scored one run for the team.
The Balers scored all six of their runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Dustin Rovella, Jacob Tonascia and Tyler Smith each added a RBI, while Smith scored a pair of runs.
The win advanced San Benito to Saturday’s matchup against Monterey, where the Balers plated the game-winning run in the home half of the seventh en route to a 2-1 victory.
Like Thursday’s game against Santa Clara, Monterey scored one run in the opening frame. But the Balers delivered the game-tying run in the fourth inning before plating the game-winner three frames later.
San Benito had just two hits in the game, from Bryan Granger and Craig Slibsager, with Slibsager also tacking on a RBI.
San Benito also received an all-around pitching performance from five different arms, including Skyler Fuss (1IP, 2H, 2K), Bryan Granger (2.2 IP, 1R, 1ER, 1H, 4K), Dustin Rovella (1.1IP, 1H, 3K), Anthony Ocampo (1IP, 1K) and Tyler Pina (1IP).
The Balers (2-2) will now open Tri-County Athletic League play this week with three games against North Salinas and Everett Alvarez.
San Benito and North Salinas will square off first on Tuesday in Hollister. First pitch is 3:30 p.m.
Thursday
SNTC — 100 000 0 — 1
SANB — 000 042 X — 6
Saturday
MONT — 100 000 0 — 1
SANB — 000 100 1 —2
