With six Tri-County Athletic League banners lining the outfield fence at San Benito High, the Baler players don’t need to be told how important league games are — especially against northern-rival Gilroy.
Versus those Mustangs on Friday, behind two RBIs from Craig Slibsager and pinch-hitter Rob Soto, San Benito won its sixth-straight league game and swept the season’s three-game series with Gilroy for the second year in a row with a 9-4 victory.
The Balers outscored Gilroy 22-10 in the three games this season.
“Everything was good,” manager Billy Aviles said. “Our pitching was very strong and it kept us in the ball game. Our situational hitting was excellent. When they gave us opportunities, we took advantage.”
Gilroy, though, had plenty of opportunities to take control of the game early. The Mustangs had a runner reach second base in every inning but the fifth, but could only score four runs.
“Those plays hurt us,” Gilroy manager Jared Gamble said. “Other than that, we hit the ball well and played good defense. Hollister is a good team.”
Immediately into the ball game, Gilroy threatened to score. However, throughout his four innings of work, San Benito starting pitcher Anthony Ocampo stopped Gilroy from getting a big hit.
With one out in the first, Gilroy center fielder Brendon Holler singled and stole second base on the next pitch. Shortstop – and leading home run hitter – Bubu Garcia followed with a long fly ball to left field, but couldn’t advance the runner. First baseman Jordan Dexter walked, putting two on for the Mustangs. Ocampo struck out Justin Nelson in three pitches to end the threat.
“I got into some bad situations but I found the zone and I competed,” he said. “I wasn’t really on today, but I did my best.”
Despite not having full control of his pitches, Ocampo allowed one run and four hit and battled through three walks and two errors.
Regardless, Ocampo’s stinginess allowed the Balers to take control of the game, Aviles said.
“He is always in the strike zone with his off-speed stuff,” Aviles said. “He is always in the strike zone. That’s his biggest attribute. He doesn’t throw extremely hard — he doesn’t throw soft either — but he is always in the zone.”
The Balers scored early, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after a lead-off double by center fielder Josh George. After stealing third, George scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Jacob.
The game remained 1-0 until the top of the third inning, when Gilroy finally took advantage of San Benito miscues.
Gilroy staring pitcher Ryan Alba opened the inning with a double. Two batters later, Garcia knocked Alba in with a line drive single into left field. Though, left fielder Daniel Gonzalez threw out Garcia as he tried to stretch his hit into a double.
The tie didn’t last long, and in the bottom of the fourth, took advantage of a dropped fly ball by Holler and grabbed the lead for good.
With one out and a runner on second, Holler dropped the shallow fly — hit by Dalan Hoskins — allowing San Benito to take a 2-1 lead.
Hoskins scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Ito for a 3-1 San Benito lead.
San Benito extended its lead with three more run in the fifth and sixth innings to build a 9-1 lead.
“I think they are playing good,” Gamble said, “Hollister is a real good team — everyone knows that. We competed with them for five innings but they are always going to compete. The fact that we hung with them for five innings, it shows that we aren’t going to give up and we have to continue to fight. There was three plays that I think that took us out of it.”
All three plays came in the game’s finally three innings.
“The fact that they played for five innings, they aren’t down at all right now,” Gamble said of his team.
The Mustangs added three more runs in the final frame with a three-run home run by Garcia.
But since the Mustangs took a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning of the March 6 game against San Benito, the Balers have outscored Gilroy 19-4.
“It is a big rivalry and it’s always a big thing to beat Gilroy,” Aviles said. “It gets pretty heated at times but the big thing is the TCAL title not beating Gilroy. So we will take it one team at a time and one pitch at a time.”
The Balers, 12-1 inside the TCAL, haven’t lost a league game since a 1-0 loss to Salinas on March 20.
