CIF NorCal baseball roundup: Serra edges College Park in 12-inning thriller
Three days after capturing their first Central Coast Section title in 16 years, Serra delivered quite the encore.
Tyler Harrison worked a bases-loaded walk with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning, bringing home Evan Bradshaw with the game-ending run.
Third-seeded Serra, playing on its home field in San Mateo, outlasted sixth-seeded College Park 2-1 on Tuesday in the opening round of the CIF Northern California Division I regionals.
The Padres advanced to play host to seventh-seeded Los Gatos in the semifinals on Thursday. The Wildcats upset No. 2 seed Franklin-Elk Grove on Tuesday.
Bradshaw began the winning rally with a single. Davis Minton followed with a walk and Jack Armstrong singled to right to load the bases.
Harrison then walked to end a marathon that included seven strong innings on the mound by College Park’s James Voorhies — he allowed one run — and seven shutout innings in relief by Serra’s Aiden Waters and Minton.
Serra took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Harrison opened with a double and Aaron Minton’s bunt single moved him to third. Aaron Maier then grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in Harrison.
College Park responded in the fifth as Davin Koepp singled, Desmond Cobb doubled and Dante Nishizawa’s sacrifice fly knocked in courtesy runner Jack Carpenter to even the score 1-1.
The game stayed tied until Harrison’s walk-off walk. Serra improved to 27-6. College Park finished 12-2.
No. 7 Los Gatos 9, No. 2 Franklin-Elk Grove 8
Tied 4-4 through five innings, Los Gatos erupted for five runs in the sixth to put host Franklin in a sizeable hole.
Turns out, the visitors needed all of those runs to hold off Franklin, the upset victory sending Los Gatos back to the Bay Area for a semifinal game Thursday at Serra.
Brayden Smith doubled and drove in three runs and Rowen Smith doubled and knocked in two runs to lead Los Gatos (25-5), which scored the game’s first four runs.
Franklin rallied for three in the home half of the third to pull to within one and tied the score with a run in the fourth.
Royal McKinney and Brandon Williams each had two RBIs for Franklin, which finished 26-8.
No. 4 St. Mary’s-Stockton 4, No. 5 Valley Christian 3
Dax Hardcastle led off the seventh inning with a home run to right field that broke a 3-3 tie and sent the Rams to the second round of the CIF NorCal playoffs.
St. Mary’s (26-8) will visit De La Salle on Thursday, attempting to win for the second time this season at the Concord school. St. Mary’s beat DLS 4-1 in eight innings on March 11.
The homer was the seventh of the season for Hardcastle, a right-handed pitcher and corner infielder who is rated the nation’s 73rd-best prospect by Baseball America. He is committed to Mississippi State.
Valley Christian (25-8-1) got on the scoreboard first when Christian Narvarez homered in the third inning to make it 1-0. But the Rams came right back in the bottom of the inning when Cal-bound Tanner Grove went deep with two runners aboard to make it 3-1.
The Warriors didn’t go down without a fight. They tied the game in the sixth when Narvarez and Quinten Marsh (headed to Stanford) walked. Jordan Ortiz loaded the bases with an infield single, then Logan Mull grounded into a fielder’s choice for one run and Nathan Choi hit a sacrifice fly to center.
Grove was the winning pitcher, going the distance and allowing two hits. St. Mary’s had 11 hits.
Division II
No. 6 Acalanes 9, No. 3 Chico 3
After winning their first North Coast Section baseball title in nine years last weekend, the Dons saw no reason to take their trophy and go home.
Acalanes went right back on the road for the first round of the CIF NorCal baseball championships, scored a run in the third to go up 1-0, then piled on eight more runs in the fifth for a relatively easy victory.
Next up is a visit to second-seeded St. Francis on Thursday. The trip to Mountain View won’t be as far as Chico, but the opponent is likely to be a little tougher.
Logically, the Panthers should have been a solid favorite, coming in with a 28-1 record and an 11-game winning streak. Acalanes, on the other hand, is 18-10-1, with the last five victories all coming in the postseason. The Dons concluded the regular season by losing seven out of 10.
Ando Butner, who began the postseason hitting under .200, got the Acalanes offense started with a two-out single in the third. He advanced to second on a Chico error, then scored when James Stadt, one of the Dons’ leading hitters this season, doubled.
The Acalanes fifth began with Dominic Patitucci taking a leadoff walk and Butner crushing is team-leading fifth homer of the season to left-center. Stadt then singled but had to be replaced because of an injury. Keegan Goddard was hit by a pitch and David Gonzales walked to load the bases. Tyler Winkles singled to make it 4-0, and Drew Asadorian doubled for two more runs. Two hit batters, an error and a sacrifice fly led to the other three runs for the Dons.
Branson Smith worked five innings for Acalanes, yielding two unearned runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out seven.
The Dons, who averaged just over four runs per game during the regular season, have outscored their five opponents 33-6 in the playoffs.
No. 2 St. Francis 5, No. 7 Central Catholic 0
Nick Chow pitched a four-hitter with five strikeouts and no walks and Henry Dommer homered and doubled to lead host St. Francis to a victory over Central Catholic in a NorCal Division II first-round game.
The Lancers scored three runs in the first to take immediate command and put the game away with two in the fifth.
Bobby Hill, Gino Cappellazzo and Jack Leeper also knocked in a run for St. Francis, which will be at home Thursday to play Acalanes in the semifinals.
St. Francis improved to 21-10, Central Catholic finished 23-12.
Division III
No. 1 Roseville 9, No. 8 California 4
The Grizzlies had four one-run innings. Roseville had a five-run fourth and a three-run sixth. Ballgame.
California (16-12) tied the game at one apiece in the fourth. Logan Kellogg singled and advanced to second on an error. Johnny Edwards hit an infield single to put runners on the corners, then a wild pitch allowed Kellogg to score.
Roseville (22-11) answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning, and the Grizzlies got no closer than 6-3 after that.
Kellogg, Edwards, Angelo Sherman and Ethan Rye all had two hits for the Grizzlies, who were only outhit 11-10. One of Sherman’s hits was a home run.
Division V
No. 4 Los Molinos 13, No. 5 Swett 3
After traveling 153 miles for their first-round playoff game, Swett’s season ended in blowout fashion as Izick Nelson went 3 for 3 with four RBIs to lead Los Molinos.
Adan Miranda was a standout for Swett (14-8-2), hitting an RBI double in the fifth inning.
Los Molinos advances to the regional semifinals on Thursday at top-seeded Etna.
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