SAN JOSE, CA – Two major plays at the plate. Three ejections. What more could a baseball fan want?
All of the preceding took place Saturday night at San Jose Municipal Stadium in the CCS Open Division title game between St. Francis and Los Gatos, in which the visiting Lancers took home the title 5-2.
Conor Thane led off the top of the fifth for St. Francis by reaching on an error, and advanced on a hit-and-run ground out by Jeremy Ydens. Still without a hit at this point in the game, Andrew Martinez doubled to left center to give St. Francis a 1-0 lead.
“Just trying to stick with our approach all year: See fastball, and adjust curve,” said Martinez. “I saw a curveball for my first at bat, then I saw a fastball, and just jumped on it early.”
Johnny Mendoza quickly followed with a single to right to score Martinez on a debated call at the plate to extend the lead to 2-0. After Martinez was called safe, Los Gatos coach Nate Anderson immediately left the dugout to argue the call, and was quickly ejected along with a Wildcat assistant coach.
Luckily for Los Gatos, the hit to the coaching staff did not poke a hole in its sails.
The Cats responded with a two run bottom of the fifth, featuring a big base hit from Ryan Gault. The second baseman singled up the middle on a 1-1 count, allowing Grant Rosenbaum to score easily from third, but when shortstop Matt Wilcox slid into home plate for the game-tying run, the St. Francis bench exploded over whether or not he did actually slide. As St. Francis players converged on their catcher Mendoza as he lay on the ground, left fielder Devon Canty made a comment towards the LG dugout and was ejected.
“I actually thought that made us tougher,” said Los Gatos assistant Jason Piraro, who took over after the ejections. “We scored two runs right away. It’s never a good thing, but I think it fired ‘em up a little bit. It was tough, but I don’t think it was the end-all.”
Nevertheless, St. Francis went right back on the offensive in the top of the sixth.
This time with two outs, Thane once again reach on an error, then Ydens ripped a single up the middle to put two runners on for St. Francis. Andrew Martinez once again delivered the blow to Los Gatos, crushing a ball to left field for a triple to give the lead back to the Lancers, 4-2.
“He just came up big,” said coach Mike Oakland of Martinez. “It’s one of those things where you don’t have to rely on one guy or two guys. You got a whole group of guys that can step up and it’s just a matter of who is going to get it done.”
The Lancers added one more in the inning when Mendoza reached on a dropped third strike and Martinez came home on the wild pitch, closing out the scoring.
St. Francis starter Andrew Carter battled through the two run inning in the fifth to shut down the Los Gatos offense the rest of the way, retiring the next six hitters in order to secure the win. He allowed only the two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks while striking out four.
“I didn’t think about it too much,” said Carter. “I just try to throw strikes and I know my team has my back, especially with those big runs. We’ve done it all year.”
The Lancers finish the season with an overall record of 29-5 with a WCAL regular season and playoff title under their belts in addition to the CCS Open Division Title.
“I don’t even know what to say, I’m kind of speechless,” said Oakland of his season. “Going into the season, it wasn’t an expectation by any stretch. These guys have just continued to keep amazing me every time they go out. The way they were able to not panic and handle adversity is better than any team I’ve been associated with.”
As for Los Gatos, the Cats finish with a record of 30-6 and a SCVAL-De Anza title.
“Its amazing. These kids have done everything we asked them to do,” said Piraro. “I love every single one of these guys. They worked their butt off from Day 1. Our goal was May 30 since Day 1. They sacrificed. They did everything we wanted them to do.”
