ATHERTON, CA -- There was no lack of good baseball played in San Mateo this season.
Hillsdale finished 27-2 and won a division title and Serra was in the race for a WCAL title before faltering at the end.
But the San Mateo school left standing in the CCS playoffs is Aragon following Saturday's action. The Dons defeated Live Oak 10-5 in a Division II quarterfinal game at Sacred Heart Prep while Hillsdale was falling 10-0 to Monterey in another DII quarterfinal.
Aragon pounded out 14 hits and got determined pitching from senior David Hermann to overtake Live Oak, a plucky team from the BVAL-Mt. Hamilton.
Ryan Field provided some of that pop for Aragon, going 3-for-4 from the No. 8 spot.
"I was just trying to do my job," Field said. "I finally got to play today -- I didn't get to play in a couple of games. I was just waiting back and letting (the ball) get deep."
Field was in the line-up because of the funeral of teammate Spencer Walling's grandfather.
"I couldn't be more happy for (Field)," Aragon coach Lenny Souza said. "He's been kind of a part-time guy all year and it couldn't happen to a better kid. It was a big, big game for him; I'm so proud of him."
The Dons now advance to the semifinals to meet Carmel at 4 p.m. Tuesday at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Souza, took pause from trying to whisk his team out of the dugout, to reflect on the game.
"We play good in big games for some reason," he said. "David always keeps us in the game. We felt like we gave up a lot with five runs; we really rely on our pitching a lot, so I was surprised that we came out like that."
Live Oak led 4-1 after 2 1/2 innings, scoring three times off Hermann in the second inning and once in the the third. Alejandro Martinez had a run-scoring single in the second for the Acorns and Mitch Conforti had an RBI single. Aragon also made a costly error.
Up 3-1, Live Oak added a run in the third on John Austin's RBI groundout.
But then Aragon's bats came alive in the third, managing four hits to score five runs. Live Oak also made two errors in the inning. Alex Athanacio, Chad Franquez, Herman and Field all had hits in the frame and Jordan Toms had an RBI groundout.
Aragon now led 6-4 and wasn't finished. It scored twice more in the fourth on an RBI single by Herman, a transfer from Serra who had to sit out last season because of the lateness of his transfer sophomore year.
As in the big third inning, Athanacio led off with a double.
Now leading 8-4, Hermann could relax a bit on the mound and just pitch his game. He went all seven innings, allowing seven hits, striking out two and walking two.
"It's always good to get a lot of run support from my teammates and it was easier to pitch and not worry about the lead," he said.
Hermann had good command of his fastball and used change-ups to keep the Acorns off balance. He also received decent support from his teammates who made just two errors as compared to Live Oak's four.
"I pretty much just trusted my teammates, knowing they'd make the plays and we'd get the outs," Hermann said. "So I was just able to throw strikes and let them hit."
Athanacio had two doubles and a sacrifice fly for Aragon (19-12) to back up Field's three hits. Also collecting two hits were Franquez and Hermann.
For Live Oak (16-15), Conforti had two hits and an RBI.
The errors hurt Live Oak, which practiced on the Acorn football field for a few days to simulate SHP's artificial turf.
"I don't get it." Live Oak coach C.J. Goularte said. "Sometimes you just don't play well. That was the case today. We haven't played defense like that in a month. It was very uncharacteristic of our guys."
Overall Goularte was impressed by his team which finished fifth in the Mt. Hamilton.
"I just told them how much I love them and how proud I am of all of them for everything they've done the last four years," he said. "They never quit and never wavered and continued to put forth the effort necessary to win."
