‘Balers take advantage of 10 walks, three errors by Trojans in
8-2 win Tuesday
Hollister
Three days removed from a 10-0, no-hit victory, the San Benito baseball team played a somewhat closer contest against visiting Alisal Tuesday, but nonetheless managed to put the Trojans away late with an 8-2 win in Hollister.
The Haybalers led 4-2 at the end of four innings, but plated four more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to close the door on Alisal, and keep the Salinas ball club winless on the year.
The ‘Balers improve to 4-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 7-2 overall.
Despite the six-run win, though, not a single ‘Baler had a multi-hit game, as Alisal allowed 10 walks and committed three errors in the loss.
Pitcher Zach Canez earned the win after throwing five innings and allowing two runs on five hits. Relievers Miles Sanchez (1 IP, 2 H, 1 K) and Bret Furtado (1 IP, 1 H, 1 K) pitched the remainder of the game.
Perhaps looking toward their next contest against Aptos, or maybe even remembering the 10-run no-hitter from Saturday, manager Michael Luna said his ‘Balers were lacking a sense of urgency early in the contest.
“The one thing I was most concerned with, and it happened, was that we would be flat. We lacked intensity,” Luna said. “Our goal today was to put them away early, but we just didn’t have the fire, the intensity, the focus to do that … We were not in this game until the last two innings.”
In those last two innings, San Benito capitalized on Alisal’s high amount of base on balls. In the fifth, Kevin Burley and Nathan Hopkins started the bottom half with walks, and after a Dane Lamanna single loaded the bases, Ronnie Fhurong drew another walk, scoring pinch-runner Ramiro Chapa. Later, Greg Huth beat out a double-play attempt, and Hopkins scored as a result.
In the sixth, Brian Haggett drew a walk and was knocked in from first base on a Steve Cabral double down the left-field line. Cabral would later score on a wild pitch.
Things weren’t good early on for Alisal either, as the ‘Balers took a quick lead at the start of the game as well.
In the first, Burley’s hit to the shortstop resulted in a throwing error to first base, scoring Haggett.
In the second, Canez helped his own cause with an RBI double that plated Huth, while Haggett later singled in Canez to make it 3-0.
Alisal picked up one run in the third, but Fhurong’s RBI single in the bottom half scored Hopkins to make it a 4-1 lead. The Trojans countered with a run in the fourth to cut San Benito’s lead to 4-2.
The ‘Balers will take a break from their TCAL schedule to play a pair of road games at Aptos Thursday and at Los Gatos Saturday.
In Aptos, San Benito will be up against a rather formidable opponent in the Mariners of the Santa Cruz Athletic League. Already this season, Aptos has defeated TCAL teams North Salinas (28-1), Gilroy (12-6 and 11-1) and Salinas (13-8).
“Now we have a big challenge on Thursday and that will answer some questions with where we stack up with some of the best teams in the [Central Coast Section],” Luna said. “I think we stack up well with any team in the CCS … On Thursday and Saturday, we’ll answer that question.”
San Benito will play at Aptos at 4 p.m.
ALI 001 100 0 – 2 8 3
SB 121 022 X – 8 8 1
