SAN MATEO, CA -- El Camino rallied in the top of the ninth inning and scored twice, leading it to a 6-4 victory on Thursday over host Aragon.
Senior right fielder Tyler Birch hit a one-out, two-run single to give the Colts the lead. Senior pitcher Alec Goff got the win after pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
The Colts win leaves both teams with a 6-4 record in the PAL-Ocean division, tied for second-place behind the 10-0 Hillsdale Knights.
“I think that was our best moment of the season,” senior Colt pitcher Ricky Pagan said.
However that rally did not come until after the Dons had a rally of their own. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Colts were leading 4-2 and were looking to close it out. The Dons had two outs and the bases loaded when junior third baseman Jordan Tong hit a two-run single to left field. The Dons strandED two runners in scoring position though, and the game went into extra innings.
El Camino coach Michael Ohman said, “That was the first time all year that we had a comeback win. It really shows that our guys have a lot of resilience.”
“A loss like this is really tough for our guys,” Aragon coach Lenny Souza said. “The good news is we get to play again tomorrow —- we don’t have to sit on this loss over the weekend. That’s the great thing about baseball. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
The Colts' highest-scoring inning came in the fourth when they scored three times to take a 4-1 lead. With the bases loaded, senior shortstop Thomas Cronin hit a high chopper to third that bounced well over the head of Aragon third baseman Andrew Abbott, allowing two runs to score. Cronin went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.
The Dons tried to stage a comeback in the bottom of the fourth. Pagan walked the first batter, then struck out the next two before walking the bases loaded. He eventually walked Aragon first baseman Kyle Tanaka with the bases loaded, allowing a run to score. However Pagan was able to strike out Aragon second baseman Chad Franquez with the bases loaded to end the inning.
In his six innings, Pagan gave up two runs, six hits, struck out eight, and walked four batters. All four of those walks came in the fourth inning.
“I felt like my cut fastball was working really well today,” Pagan said. “I was hitting my spots, except in [the fourth inning]. I think I was just starting to lose focus, but coach told me to just slow down and relax and I was able to keep pitching well after [that inning].”
In addition to Cronin and Birch, the Colts' offense was led by senior second baseman Andrew Pierotti, who went 3-for-4, and Pagan, who helped his own cause by going 2-for-5.
For the Dons, senior David Hermann went six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out four and walking one. At the plate, Spencer Walling, Billy Mason, Alex Athanacio and Tong all had two hits. The Dons stranded 10 runners on base, while the Colts stranded 11.
