MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Jeremy Ydens didn’t make practice on Wednesday because he had the flu. Jeremy Ydens didn’t start on the mound for St. Francis on Thursday because he had the flu. But, when the junior stepped up to the plate in the bottom of 10th inning late Thursday afternoon, he must have been feeling better.
Ydens took the first pitch he saw from Patrick Wicklander, a curveball inside, over the left field wall, to vault the Lancers to a 2-1 victory over visiting Valley Christian to enable the Lancers to stay alone atop the WCAL standings.
“I was just able to get some good wood on the ball, and it was lucky enough to go out,” said Ydens. “I knew it had a chance, but I just didn’t know ... sometimes it would die and sometimes it would go, so with the changing wind I wasn’t sure. But, when the people started cheering I was really happy.”
Great pitching from both sides forced the extra-inning thriller, with Kyle Basch on the mound for the Lancers and Mark Quinby for the Warriors. Both pitchers got into grooves early, maintaining no-hitters for most of the game.
Basch was the first to surrender a hit though, coming off the bat of Brian Tate in the top of the fifth. After Tate's infield single, he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jaxon Sawyer then provided some clutch hitting with a double down the left field line, and Valley Christian led 1-0.
The Lancers got to Quinby in the bottom of the sixth, with Ydens managing an infield single. He moved up to second on a balk and then scored on Andrew Martinez’s single to left field, making it 1-1.
From there on out, there was nothing but shutdown defense from both sides. Both teams were presented with opportunities, but the defense always managed to prevail. Three double plays were turned after the seventh inning.
In the end, Basch managed to outduel Quinby and Wicklander, throwing all 10 innings and a whopping 118 pitches. The one run Basch allowed to Valley Christian came on four hits and four walks. He struck out five.
“You have to go from pitch to pitch, throw your best every time, never give up,” said Basch. “You just have to fight, you have to give it your all every inning and just battle, every pitch.”
Quinby lasted six innings for the Warriors, allowing just one run on two hits, while walking three and striking out four. Wicklander, who took the loss, lasted 3.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks, with one strike out.
“Both the guys did a good job. I thought they both did a good job,” said coach John Diatte. “And Patrick, being a freshman, we put him in a tough situation, and I thought that he did an amazing job.
“We had our opportunities earlier in the game, we had opportunities late, and just didn’t get the hit. But on the other side of the ball, we were in it until the last pitch. I think we did a good job working our way out of situations."
The loss drops Valley Christian to 19-6 (8-4) and currently has the Warriors sitting in third in the WCAL. They return home and take on second-place Mitty on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
As for St. Francis, the Lancers (19-5, 10-2) travel down to Southern California on Friday morning for a bout with JSerra Catholic from San Juan Capistrano in the championship of the Boras Baseball Classic on Saturday at noon. The game is at Cal State Fullerton. JSerra is currently ranked No. 1 in the MaxPreps nation computer rankings.
“I just want to go down, I want the kids to have a good time, I want it to be a good experience for them,” said coach Mike Oakland. “Win or lose, it honestly doesn’t matter that much to me, what matters to me is that we’re ready to compete for a title next week.”
St. Francis takes on Archbishop Riordan at home on Tuesday at 4, looking to lock up a fifth consecutive WCAL regular season title.
