Hollister baseball has climbed the mountaintop.
The Balers made school history this past weekend. On May 31, the Hollister baseball team captured the school’s first Central Coast Section baseball championship with a 3-0 victory over Wilcox.
The CCS D2 title game was played on a hot, sunny afternoon at San Jose’s Excite Ballpark, home of the minor league San Jose Giants.
The Balers have been a perennial power but a CCS title had long eluded them, with championship game appearances but no victories. That has all changed, as this Baler team won the big trophy.
Ace pitcher Trent Roach in the championship game threw a seven-inning complete-game two-hit shutout, the defense made sterling plays all across the diamond and an eight-hit attack featured opportunistic hitting highlighted by Jake Esparza’s two-RBI third-inning double.
“It feels great,” Esparza said. “The first title in history for our school. Our team, we all had confidence.”
After a final fly out to left fielder Daniel Martinez, the entire Baler bench erupted onto the field for a joyous group celebration. The happy crew rejoiced and shifted into a huge dogpile on the grass just in front of home plate.
Later, Roach hoisted the CCS trophy high to cheers from the team, coaches and a large contingent of Hollister fans. Enrique Rivas did a backflip to loud cheers and several players hoisted the water cooler for a refreshing “bath” to punctuate the accomplishment.
“I’m kinda at a loss for words,” Roach said. “We stuck to our plan. We got all the runs we needed. The defense—I can’t ask for more behind me. It’s great to win this with these guys, who will be lifelong friends.”
Hollister broke open a scoreless game in the home half of the third inning. Gavin Rodriguez walked on a full-count pitch that was out of the zone and Roach laced a single to left. Evan Mendoza belted an offering to left but directly at Charger left fielder Preston Jetson for an out. Esparza stepped to the dish and saw the Wilcox outfield alignment shifted to the right, ready for an opposite-field poke.
“I told the coach and the assistant coach they were shifted and I was going to pull the ball down the line,” Esparza said. “I got a curveball inside and I pulled it.”
He sure did. The Baler third baseman blasted the ball down the left field line, far away from Wilcox’s Jetson. The ball rolled all the way to the wall as Rodriguez and Roach rounded the bases to score. Esparza pulled in at second with a double and two RBIs.
He looked over at the dugout and smiled at his cheering teammates.
There was more to come. With two outs, Esparza, overlooked by Wilcox pitcher R J Argel, stole third easily. Wes Aviles followed by bouncing a single past shortstop Mateo Escobedo and Esparza scored run number three.
That lead stood up the rest of the way and the celebration was on.
The championship game shaped up to be extremely competitive. Both teams were red hot. The Balers had won 11 of their last 12 games while the Chargers had captured 16 of their last 17.
During that run, Wilcox averaged six runs a game and only once failed to tally four or more. That all ended with a dominant shutdown by the Balers. Roach retired Wilcox 1-2-3 in six of the seven innings.
Only in the fourth inning did they put even one man on base. Wilcox loaded the bags with two out, but Roach quelled the threat by getting a Jeston flyout to preserve the 3-0 lead.
“After I got out of the jam, that was a momentum killer,” Roach said. “I trusted my fastball and my off-speed. My fastball and change-up were big factors today.”
Roach, who finished with eight strikeouts, did not allow Wilcox a chance the last three frames. Fifth inning: flyout, strikeout, ground out. Sixth inning: infield pop out, flyout, groundout. Seventh inning: strikeout, ground out, fly out. Championship!
“Usually the last three innings, I’m at my strongest,” Roach said.
No opponent has seen anything but dominant pitching from the Cal-bound 6-foot-5 senior Roach.
According to Hollister coach Michael Luna, Roach has a 0.00 ERA, having pitched 78 innings without giving up an earned run. Additionally, he allowed just one unearned run all season.
“It’s surreal,” Luna said. “We’ve been in the title game eight times since 2007.This is the first title won in Hollister history. We have been playing really good ball the last six weeks. Our pitching keeps us in every single game. And we’ve been taking care of the ball defensively.”
The Balers’ playoff run began on May 24 with a 3-0 victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral. In a May 28 semifinal in Monterey, Hollister exploded for five runs in the third inning and walloped Menlo-Atherton 8-2. Martinez, Rodriguez and Roach each had two hits. Drew Gastelum tossed four shutout innings and Mendoza pitched three innings with only two unearned runs allowed.
Saturday’s shutout of Wilcox was the Balers’ fourth shutout in their last five games and fifth in their last seven.
“We started off the season shaky, but then we got hot,” Esparza said. “Everyone played to their potential. We roll behind our pitcher Trent. Only allowed two hits today.”
Hollister now advances into the CIF NorCal Regional baseball playoffs. The Balers received an 8-seed in the Division II bracket.
Competition begins June 3 and Hollister will travel far north of Sacramento to play the top-seeded Yuba City Honkers, champions of the Foothill Valley League and winners in the San Joaquin Section Division III bracket. In the final, they edged Central Catholic of Modesto 8-7 in eight innings.
NorCal Division II semifinals will be contested on June 5, with the NorCal title match on June 7.
Regardless of NorCal results, Hollister’s 2025 Balers now own the long-awaited CCS baseball title.
