When Zack Moeller got the exact pitch he was looking for—a fastball on the middle inside of the plate on a 3-1 count—he didn’t disappoint.
Moeller’s home run to dead center leading off the bottom of the 10th inning gave host San Benito a thrilling 4-3 win over Serra-San Mateo on Wednesday in a Central Coast Section Open Division playoff opener.
The No. 2 seed Haybalers (22-6) play No. 7 Mitty (23-6) in a Saturday quarterfinal at a time and location to be determined.
“It just felt good to help the team out,” said Moeller, who finished with two of the team’s nine hits. (When I hit the ball) I knew it was gone, actually.”
If it wasn’t for Moeller’s home run, the teams might still be playing. In what can only be described as an instant classic, the Balers and No. 15 Padres (16-12) duked it out like two championship heavyweights, exchanging blows throughout.
Then again, it wasn’t a surprise that San Benito was involved in another nail-biter against a school from the powerful West Catholic League—the Balers are now 4-3 against WCAL schools in the playoffs since 2010.
However, Wednesday’s contest was the most suspenseful yet, as the Balers had to overcome some missed opportunities to pull this one out. They loaded the bases on two separate occasions, with two out in the third and one out in the fifth.
Both times, however, San Benito came up empty.
“Earlier in the year, we did have some trouble hitting with runners in scoring position,” Balers coach Billy Aviles said. “We left some runs out there today, but all that matters is the final score. Our kids had great at-bats all game long. They went deep in the count in every single at-bat, and it paid off in the end.”
San Benito scored single runs in the second, third and sixth inning before Moeller’s walk-off shot capped a game that lasted 3 hours, 15 minutes. Garret Kelly got the Balers on the board with a solo home run to left field leading off the second, and Dylan Yamasaki’s single with one out in the third brought the Balers to within 3-2.
San Benito went down in order in the fourth and had the bases loaded in the fifth only to come up empty. With their season on the line, the Balers got the critical tying run in the bottom of the sixth.
Daniel Gonzales hit a leadoff single and one out later advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Cody Freitas’ groundout advanced Gonzales to third, and he scored moments later on another wild pitch from Serra starter Matt Blais.
One hit, two wild pitches, one run—just what the Balers needed with their season hanging in the balance.
Greg Steinbeck started for San Benito and went four innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs, throwing just 60 pitches in the process. Hunter Haworth relieved and threw six shutout innings, providing the team with the boost it needed.
“Our pitchers kept us in the game,” Moeller said. “They’ve been doing that for us all year.”
Indeed, the Balers can match up with any of the top WCAL schools because of their dual aces. Haworth improved to a perfect 10-0 on the season, in the process lowering his already microscopic 0.49 ERA entering the contest.
Although this wasn’t Haworth’s most dominating performance of the season, it was probably the most impressive considering he had absolutely no margin for error, as he came in with the team trailing by a run.
And considering the competition—the Padres have one of the best lineups in the section—Haworth’s performance was one of the gutsiest of his burgeoning career. The Chico State-bound right-hander allowed four hits, all singles, walked four (two intentional) and hit a batter.
The competition doesn’t get any easier for the Balers, who play Mitty in a rematch of last year’s Division I quarterfinal, a 5-0 San Benito victory. The Balers also beat the Monarchs in 2012 in the same round, 4-0.
“Everyone seems surprised when we beat a WCAL school, but we do it every year,” Aviles said. “We’re the only program that’s been to the semifinals the last four (actually three) years, so it’s not a surprise to us when we beat them. We expect to win. Any time you play a WCAL school it’s a battle, but I like where we’re sitting right now.”
