Hollister baseball falls to Palma 4-1 but remains in third place

On a sunny and breezy day at home on April 29, Hollister dropped a 4-1 decision to Palma, missing a chance to get into a second-place league tie. 

The pitching was good and the offense produced chances. However, the lack of a key hit with runners on base, errors and some bad-bounce Palma hits proved to be the deciding factors. Nevertheless, the Balers are 6-3 in their last nine games and in the thick of the league race.

The competitive Pacific Coast Athletic League, Gabilan Division is a dogfight among five teams, with two other solid squads just behind. Every team has lost at least three times to the other competitors. With two weeks remaining, Palma leads at 11-3, Carmel is 9-4, the Balers are 8-6 in third place, with St. Francis at 6-7 and Monterey at 6-8. 

A couple steps back at 4-10 are Salinas and Soledad but they are both dangerous too. Hollister’s record includes a split of two games against the Padres and two victories in three tries against the Chieftains. 

“Our lefty pitcher (Drew Gastelum) pitched well, but we made too many errors behind him,” Hollister coach Michael Luna said. “You can’t do that against a team like Palma, especially the way they’ve been playing. And their pitcher Gonzales is pretty good. He threw very well.”

Overall, Hollister has begun complementing its pitching and defense with some strong hitting. The Balers’ early-season offensive struggles are mostly in the past, with 59 runs scored during their last nine games, an average of 6.56 per game. 

However, the hitting struggled against Palma star pitcher Alan Gonzales, who threw a complete game and has allowed just four earned runs all year, with an 0.83 ERA. 

Balers’ hitting star Gavin Rodriguez was out with a pulled hamstring. He incurred the injury during the Friday April 25 5-3 non-league win over West Catholic Athletic League power Bellarmine.

“Offensively we had a few chances,” Luna said. “A couple players squared up on the ball, but we couldn’t put up a crooked number. We missed Gavin. He and Trent (Roach) have hit over .500 the last 15 games.”

With Rodriguez sidelined, sophomore Donovan Price filled in at catcher. Gastelum threw the first five innings with Evan Mendoza shifting in from second base to pitch the final two frames. Ami Lopez, who can also pitch, finished the game at second. 

The remainder of the infield was the usual sterling crew of Jake Esparza at third, Brayden Barone at short and Wes Aviles at first. The outfield featured Daniel Martinez, Jordy Quezada and Anthony Bolin.

A walk, an error, an infield single and a sacrifice fly plated two runs for the visitors in the top of the first. Hollister got one back in the fourth. Mendoza singled, Barone walked, a wild pitch advanced both runners and Aviles brought Mendoza home with a right-side ground out.

Palma added a run in the sixth via a single, a sacrifice bunt and a high-bouncing single through the left side. The Chieftains added a fourth score in the seventh with help from an errant Baler throw in an attempt at a double play.

“We stayed in the game and kept fighting through but it wasn’t our best,” Gastelum said.

Palma is averaging 7.9 runs a game in league play and 7.7 runs in all contests. Gastelum kept the Chieftains at bay and left after five innings, with the score at 2-1. He picked off two runners and shut down two big threats, being at his sharpest in tough situations. In the third, with two on, he fanned Damian Ybarra looking. In the fourth, with the bases loaded, he similarly struck out three-hole hitter Rocco Razzeca, a .397 hitter.
“I would throw my fastball on the outside and set up my curve on the inside,” Gastelum said. “With runners on base, I would go outside, then inside, then back outside.”

That kept Hollister in the game, but they could not find the key hit on this day. The Balers had beaten Palma on March 11 and March 14 and were close to a three-peat, even without Rodriguez and with star pitcher Trent Roach on a Thursday schedule and not facing Palma.

With the usual Tuesday-Thursday baseball schedule, Roach is lined up for the Thursday games. He will next throw at Salinas on May 1. The Cal-bound senior star has been untouchable all season. He is coming off two consecutive no-hitters, the last an amazing six-inning, 17-strikeout performance against Soledad in a 4-0 win on April 24 on the road.

“All my pitches have been working well,” Roach said. “I try to command the zone and trust my defense behind me.”
Luna knows the Balers have a great chance to win every time Roach throws. That will make them very dangerous in the upcoming post-season, which begins on May 24. The remainder of the staff is solid too. Gastelum allowed no big hits in his five innings of work against Palma. 

Luna cautioned that regardless of who is on the hill, they still need to play the game behind the pitcher. They need to “take care of the ball,” and he reflected that that is particularly true with the skill level of high school baseball.

Rodriguez may recover from his injury and be in action on Thursday though he may need a bit more time to recover. Adding his bat back into the lineup will be a huge plus.

“Me and Gavin have a similar approach at the plate,” Roach said. “It’s attack, attack, attack. See a pitch and hack at it. Though with two strikes, it becomes ‘do it for the team’ and put it in play.”

Hollister visits Salinas on May 1, plays St. Francis and Carmel the following week and closes the regular season at Monterey on May 15. Central Coast Section playoffs start on May 24 and conclude on May 31. The Balers have reached a CCS final in two of the last three years.

“The season has been going great,” Gastelum said. “We’ve had some rough games but we’re good. We’ll have a good run in CCS.”