SAN JOSE, CA - History repeated itself in an unfortunate way Thursday night for Menlo-Atherton.
Bears' ace Erik Amundson balked home the eventual winning run in a 2-1 loss to Wilcox. The setback came in the CCS Division-I semifinals.
Wilcox now advances to meet Westmont in Saturday's 7 p.m. title game and will be seeking its first section title since 2008.
As for 12th-seeded Menlo-Atherton, this was the Bears' first trip to the semifinals and it's season ended the same way the 2013 season concluded -- with Amundson balking home a run in a one-run loss. Last year it came in a 3-2 setback to San Benito.
Against No. 1-seed Wilcox, the home-plate umpire detected a pause in Amundson's delivery with runners on second and third and two outs in the sixth.
"According to the umpire he started his delivery and then stopped his delivery," M-A coach Mike Amoroso said. "I didn't see the balk -- I saw no balk. This is the second year of us being down here in the South Bay and we've had two balks called on us and it's cost us the game."
Asked what he saw, Amoroso said: "I thought he stepped off. As I told the umpire, it's a crucial play of the game, crucial call of the game and if he wants to be the deciding factor of the game, then maybe we should have talked about that during the pre-game."
The Bears coach stopped short of blaming the loss on the umpire, noting his team's difficulties scoring against Wilcox ace Andrew Najeeb-Brush.
"We had our chances -- they were few and slim -- but we just didn't capitalize on them," Amoroso said.
Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said the Chargers were preparing to steal home in the sixth before the pivotal call. In fact, following the balk, Wilcox did attempt to pilfer home and had a runner barely thrown out.
But by then the damage was done for M-A (18-13-1), which went down to defeat on three Najeeb-Brush strikeouts -- all called-third strikes -- in the seventh.
"It was crazy," Rosa said of the contest. "I didn't really see (the balk sequence). We had talked about stealing home earlier in the game. He wasn't really checking the runner in the wind-up. We were getting ready for that, and then he wound up balking on the first pitch."
The Chargers coach is not quibbling about the outcome -- not after watching his ace right-hander lock up in a classic pitching duel with the UC-San Diego-bound right-hander Amundson.
Amundson is handy with the bat, too, as his run-scoring double in the sixth inning tied the game. In fact, M-A loaded the bases before Najeeb-Brush escaped the inning with a strikeout.
"I had a lot of confidence in Andrew and our defense," said Wilcox shortstop Adam Rios of the sticky situation.
However, Wilcox's first two batters in the bottom of the sixth reached base, leading to the pivotal balk as Wilcox scored the game-winner without a hit in the inning.
Wilcox (24-8) had earlier taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Jacob Martinez's RBI single.
Both coaches lauded Najeeb-Brush, who threw a second consecutive playoff gem for the Chargers.
"He was awesome," Rosa said. "Two outings in a row -- probably the best I've seen him. He did a great job in both games and kept us in it both times."
Said Amoroso: "He was tough. I tip my hat to him. He dealt the entire time. He kept us off balance and did his job. I thought our guy did his job. Unfortunately, we just came out on the losing end."
Najeeb-Brush pitched a five-hitter, struck out 10 and walked none. Amundson yielded six hits, struck out seven and walked one.
Rios led Wilcox at the plate with two hits and played a steady short. Lawson Joos and Amundson each had two hits for M-A, in addition to Amundson starring on the mound.
"Erik's a workhouse; he's a stud and he's going to UCSD," Amoroso said. "He deserves every single bit of it. He has always gone out with 110 percent confidence and we've had that confidence behind him."
Wilcox is also a confident bunch and now will take that self-assurance back to Muni on Saturday.
"It feels really good," Rios said. "We worked really hard to get here and hopefully we can finish."
