It was Senior Day for the Hollister High baseball team and, boy,
did those seniors have a day.
It was Senior Day for the Hollister High baseball team and, boy, did those seniors have a day.
Baler manager Neal Andrade started eight seniors (he usually does anyway) and all eight had a hand in an 11-1 rout of Salinas Thursday in six innings to keep a toehold on first place of the Tri-County Athletic League.
The Balers (19-6, 10-3) are tied with Live Oak (16-9, 10-3) for the top spot as the Acorns defeated Palma 9-2 on Thursday.
“It will be a fight to the finish,” said Salinas coach Art Hunsdorfer, who could only sit back and admire the Balers. “Hollister is a fantastic team.”
The Baler offense wasn’t fantastic until the fifth inning when it decided to put the game out of reach and chase Cowboys starter Thomas Incaviglia (5-3) in the process. Incaviglia, who had thrown a ton of breaking pitches for the first four inning, issued two walks and a single to Eric Diaz Jr. to jam the bases full for Nathan Rowe.
Rowe worked the count to 3-1 then cranked one halfway up the fence in left-center field for a two-run double. At first glance, the drive had the look of a grand slam.
“I was hoping it was going out,” said Rowe, who had three RBI on the day. “I was happy I got the big hit. I had been slumping the past few games.”
Gordon Ross, who is itching to get going offensively, had one of his best rips of the year when he hit a searing liner to left field. The ball sailed over the head of Salinas left fielder Danny Reyes for a double and two more runs. That chased Incaviglia in lieu of Christian Burke. Burke lost Steve O’Connell to a walk, then P.J. Galvan’s sac fly completed a five-run frame for the Balers.
Anthony Synegal joined the party in the sixth with a crushing two-run double off the Cowboys third pitcher of the game – Skyler Crawford – to score Josh Badillo and Nick Ramos. A bases loaded walk to Ross forced in another run. P.J. Galvan’s long single to center gave the Balers another digit and the 10-run differential to end it.
All of the above made a winner out of Diaz (5-3), who pitched well, giving up five hits and striking out nine. Four of the Cowboys hits were by the top two hitters in the order – Zach McKibbin and Aaron McKenna – who had two hits each. Take away McKibbin and McKenna (or the Mc brothers, if you will) and Diaz, who walked just McKibbin to start the game, pitched to just one over the minimum.
“Diaz pitched well,” said Andrade. “We put together some hits, finally. Nathan’s hit busted up the game some.”
The Balers play a makeup game at Gilroy at 12 p.m. before Tuesday’s road test at Palma ends the regular season.
“We can’t look past Gilroy,” said Andrade.
Nor Palma, for that matter. As Hunsdorfer said, “This will be a fight to the finish.”
JV update: It rained in Salinas, which canceled the JV game Thursday. The Baler junior varsity and freshmen finish their “pizza” game this afternoon with the loser’s springing for some pizza pie at a local restaurant.
Baler bits: Live Oak has a makeup game at North Salinas Saturday, then is at Gilroy on Tuesday to finish its schedule. – The seniors honored their mothers after the game with flowers. Here are the eight: Rowe, Ross, Diaz, Ramos, Galvan, O’Connell, Badillo and Ricardo Cosio, who played left field but did not bat.
Salinas100000-152
Hollister110054-11100
Incaviglia, Burke (5), Crawford (6) and Casas; Diaz Jr. and Synegal. WP – Diaz (5-3). LP – Incaviglia (5-3). 2B – McKenna (S); Synegal, Rowe, Ross (H). 2 hits – McKibbin, McKenna (S); Badillo, Synegal, Galvan. 3 RBI – Rowe, Ross (H). 2 RBI – Synegal, Galvan (H).
