Three home runs power 11-9 victory over Black Sox; Central Coast
championship series headed back to Watsonville for finale
Hollister – One more game. For all the marbles.
To the surprise of no one who has watched the Black Sox and Diablos duke it out on the field this season, the Central Coast Adult Baseball championship series is headed to a decisive Game 3.
After coming within one out of winning Game 1 on Aug. 16, the Diablos rebounded to even the series with their cross-town rival with an 11-9 victory at San Benito High on Sunday.
The teams reconvene at Watsonville High on Wednesday night for a winner-takes-all final game.
“It’s going to be do or die,” Diablos manager Michael Montoya said. “I think this is for bragging rights for the rest of the year.”
After a back-and-forth Game 1 saw the Diablos take a one-run lead in the 10th inning, only to watch their opponent prevail 7-6 with a last-gasp rally, they made sure to build up more of a cushion Sunday. And that turned out to be a very good thing for them in a series in which no lead seems safe.
Despite enjoying an 11-5 lead heading into the ninth inning, the Diablos had to buckle their seat belts as the Black Sox struck for four runs – all with two outs – in a spirited comeback. The Black Sox, the No. 1 seed, finally chased Diablos starter Ian Hudson by putting the tying run at second, but Golov Betancourt came on to strike out Sammy Stewart to extend the series.
“We were down and we came back,” said Black Sox manager Andrew Barragan, whose team scored all of its runs in the final four innings. “It just shows our team doesn’t quit.”
The third-seeded Diablos got started quickly, touching Barragan, who also started on the mound for the Black Sox, for two runs in the bottom of the first. Designated hitter Nick Gonzalez led off with a double and was driven in by center fielder Betancourt, who later came around to score on a hit by Nick Bakich.
Hudson, a crafty left-hander who was the winning pitcher in the Diablos’ lone regular-season victory over their rival, held the Black Sox in check by tossing 5 2/3 no-hit innings to start the game. Evan Carruth finally broke up the no-hitter by beating out a throw from shortstop Bakich on an infield dribbler.
“We had trouble with him last time and sure enough, he had a no-hitter ’til the sixth,” Barragan said. “He just had us off balance.”
Kevin Orosco, whose sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of Game 1 temporarily put the Diablos ahead, slammed a two-run home run in the fifth to give his team a 4-0 lead.
A two-run double by Kevin Hatchett with two outs in the sixth helped the Black Sox to within 4-3, but Diablos first baseman Matt Hudson hammered a monster three-run shot high over the right-center fence to extend his team’s lead.
The Black Sox again rallied with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, crawling back to within 9-5, but the Diablos again benefited from the round-tripper – a two-run homer by Manny Chavez – to take a six-run lead into the ninth.
“It just gave us that extra oomph we needed, that extra edge,” Montoya said of the long ball that always seemed to arrive when his team needed it Sunday.
After their defense proved costly with two errors in the decisive tenth in the first game, the Diablos again stumbled in the field when trying to close out Game 2. The Black Sox benefited from a two-run infield error and an RBI double by Rob Picha, but Betancourt was summoned in time to ice the game for the Diablos.
“Pretty much we had it in the bag until the ninth inning,” Montoya mused. “We had some room to spare, but … (the Black Sox) play nine innings. They don’t give up, just like our team. Nobody gives up until the last out.”
That mentality should make for fascinating theater once again on Wednesday.
The Black Sox, the veteran group that has players 10+ years older than their Diablos counterpart, will call on that experience, sending Leroy Dozal, 35, to the hill.
“He’s won two big championship games for us in the last three years,” Barragan said of his Game 3 starter. “We’ve been in these situations before and we’ve beaten some pretty good teams with this group of players.
Barragan continued: “There’s no pressure over here. We have nothing to lose. I think (the Diablos) have their pride, their dignity and their ego to beat the old men.”
After falling in the final game of last year’s championship series, the Diablos look to finish their season with a much sweeter taste in 2006.
“This year, we want it twice as bad,” Montoya said.
Betancourt, who tossed a no-hitter earlier in the postseason to vault the Diablos past the A’s, will take the ball at Watsonville High.
Set to retire as manager following the season, Montoya predicts his team will disband in the offseason, making Wednesday’s game that much more important for the Diablos.
“We want to at least retire with a win or a championship,” Montoya said. “We want to go out as winners.”
