Trailing by seven runs on three different occasions in the game,
and even no-hit through three innings of play, the Balers chipped
away both times and eventually knotted the game at 13-all after a
seven-run sixth inning, only to plate the winning run one inning
later when backup catcher Kyle Prewett lined an RBI single up the
middle en route to an improbable 14-13 walk-off victory.
HOLLISTER
Well, it was a playoff atmosphere, to say the least.
In a game that meant just about nothing as far as the Tri-County Athletic League standings are concerned — the two teams had already locked up their respective places in the league earlier in the week — San Benito and Gilroy met on Hollister’s baseball diamond one last time for the regular-season finale on Thursday, and added one more chapter, at the very least, to its storied rivalry.
Trailing by seven runs on three different occasions in the game, and even no-hit through three innings of play, the Balers chipped away both times and eventually knotted the game at 13-all after a seven-run sixth inning, only to plate the winning run one inning later when backup catcher Kyle Prewett lined an RBI single up the middle en route to an improbable 14-13 walk-off victory.
And the playoffs don’t even start until next week.
“This is one of the best come-from-behind victories (in the series),” said San Benito manager Michael Luna, whose team improved to 16-2 in the TCAL, 20-6 overall.
“And there is no one more deserving to get that (hit) than Kyle Prewett. He’s a tremendous kid, but then a tremendous teammate. He doesn’t get to play much, but whenever he does get the chance to play, that’s the way he plays — 100 percent every single time.”
Prewett’s involvement in the game was only part of the story, of course.
A three-run first inning by Gilroy (13-5, 17-9-1) featured a play at the plate that ended with two player ejections.
Following Neal Dinsmore’s opposite-field flare to right that scored Eric Vegas from third base, Gilroy’s Bubu Garcia tried to sprint home from second but was called out on a bang-bang play at the plate.
Garcia’s hard slide into catcher Spencer Brann may have resulted in a dislocated ankle to the Gilroy sophomore, though, who popped up from the slide and delivered an elbow to Brann’s shoulder. Brann pushed back and was promptly ejected from the game. Garcia was also ejected for failure to avoid contact at the plate, and would be later toted off the field via ambulance.
“I’m worried more about my player Bubu right now,” Gilroy first-year manager Johnny Ramirez said following the four-hour, 27-run contest on Thursday. “He’s injured … The game turned when I lost one of my players.”
The brief altercation resulted in jarring in the stands among fans, in which at least one spectator was ejected, as well as chippy play on the field for the remainder of the game, including a warning to both benches in the sixth inning.
“They said he broke his ankle on the slide, and that’s how he came to pop up,” Luna said. “[Brann] obviously shouldn’t have done that, but he thinks the kid is coming in hard with an elbow, and teenagers respond that way.”
In perhaps the peak or irony, though, the first-inning display only led to Prewett’s involvement in the catcher’s role, as well as Prewett’s game-winning RBI single — his only hit of the game.
“I was feeling good,” Prewett said after the game, still wet from the Gatorade shower he received following the contest. “But I knew I couldn’t go 0-for-5. I couldn’t let my team down. I couldn’t go 0-for-5, knowing Spencer (Brann) would have done better.
“I just felt like … I just wanted to do something.”
Prewett’s single up the middle was ripped solidly into center field, and scored Mark Hurley from second base, who reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning.
“We were down seven at one point, and we’re gonna scrap until the last out,” Luna said.
The ending was in stark contrast to how the game started, though. Following the first inning and a 3-0 Gilroy lead, the Mustangs appeared to be playing off the emotion of their injured teammate, the Balers playing off the frustration that was quickly setting in.
The lead blossomed to seven when Dinsmore hit a two-run homer to left field in the third, while later Gabe Bonilla blasted an RBI double to center field, knocking starting pitcher Darin Gillies from the game.
Meanwhile, Mustang pitcher Michael Hartman was keeping the Baler bats silent.
“I liked how my boys battled today,” Ramirez said. “They showed a lot of class and composure when things were going wrong, and they stayed under control.
“Again, to knock out their ace like we did, that’s impressive and that’s what I wanted.”
San Benito broke that hitless silence when Hurley’s line-drive double to right turned into a three-bagger after the right-fielder stumbled, then an inside-the-park four-bagger when the throw to third base went wide.
The game carried a back-and-forth feel at that point, with Gilroy always leading by at least four runs, and by as many as eight.
“But that’s been our motto, or the type of team we’ve been the entire year,” Luna said. “We’re just not gonna go away.”
The Mustangs appeared to still carry the momentum in the top of the sixth when Bonilla and Matt Elston connected on consecutive RBI knocks, pushing Gilroy out to a 13-6 lead.
But in the home half, a two-out rally, highlighted by a pinch-hit two-RBI single from Gillies and a two-RBI double from Justin Schlie, brought the Balers back to an even score, while Gilroy reliever Brent Newton made a diving play at the plate to tag out the go-ahead run.
But the improbable stage was set for perhaps an even more improbable player.
“I was feeling good,” Prewett said. “I saw quite a few fastballs, and [Newton] threw another fastball that I could connect with.”
Both teams will now await their Central Coast Section Division I seedings, which are expected to be announced this weekend.
Of course, for both teams, the playoffs may have started on Thursday in Hollister.
“This is a playoff atmosphere,” Ramirez said. “My team is peaking at the right time. We had won six in a row coming in, should have been seven, but things just went wrong.
“But playoffs come now, and we’ll see what we got.”
GILR — 314 023 0 — 13
SANB — 000 247 1 — 14
WP: J. Schlie
LP: B. Newton
