San Benito coach Michael Luna debated during his team’s nine-day
layoff about who he would pitch in Saturday’s showdown against
Salinas.
Salinas – San Benito coach Michael Luna debated during his team’s nine-day layoff about who he would pitch in Saturday’s showdown against Salinas.
His first choice all along had been Zach Canez, but after a poor outing in a loss to Palma, Luna had some second thoughts.
On Thursday, he went to the junior right-hander and asked if he wanted the ball Canez said he did and showed it by firing a two-hit shutout in the Haybalers 3-0 win over the Cowboys to propel them back into a tie for first place in the Tri-County Athletic League.
“I was really pumped up today,” Canez said. “I’ve been struggling, but coach asked me Thursday if I wanted the ball and I said yes.”
San Benito improves to 23-7 overall – one win shy of equaling the school-record 24 games it won last season – and 6-2 in league play. The ‘Balers are tied for first with Gilroy, which it will travel to face at 4pm today. Both teams are a half-game ahead of Palma and Salinas, which are 6-3.
“He’s thrown in some big time situations,” Luna said of Canez. “He had a quick hook. If he had gotten into trouble we would’ve gone to Michael Garcia. But he got better and better as the game went on.”
The Cowboys (21-6) hit only three balls out of the infield, including one of Adam Souza’s two hits. Salinas’ No. 9 hitter scored the only blemishes off Canez, who needed 73 pitches to go the distance. Four other batters reached base on a walk, hit by pitch and two errors.
Canez induced ground ball after ground ball and got plenty of help from shortstop Ronnie Fhurong, who had eight assists and two putouts on the day.
“He looked impressive,” Luna said of Fhurong. “He made some really nice plays.”
The ‘Balers got Canez off to a good start by getting the offense going in the first inning.
Justin Andrade led off with a single and Kolton Klauer walked. Andrade stole third and induced a balk from Salinas pitcher JoJo Hernandez with a fake break to the plate to score the first run.
Kevin Medeiros grounded out to move Klauer to third, who scored when Canez rolled a ball to short that the sure-handed Michael Aldrete bobbled and then threw away to make it 2-0.
That proved to be enough for Canez, who along with the rest of the team, felt refreshed after their nearly week and a half off.
“That helped us rest and get prepared for this game,” Canez said. “We needed that break.”
San Benito got an insurance run in the seventh off reliever Dustin Corvello. Andrade was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and with two outs he stole second and scored when Medeiros hit an infield single to third and Cowboys first baseman Gabe Arcoleo dropped the ball and couldn’t get a throw off to home.
Salinas got the leadoff hitter aboard via an error in the seventh, but Canez set down the next three batters to finish off his finest outing of the season.
“If we go to the playoffs we need somebody to step up,” Luna said. “(Canez) has been there before. We needed to see if this is our guy and he answered that question.”
San Benito 200 000 1 – 3 8 2
Salinas 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
Canez and Zozaya. Hernandez, Corvello (7) and White. WP – Canez, LP – Hernandez.
