MONTEREY — Scotts Valley High’s baseball team played solid defense, biding time for its offense to break through against Homestead in the Central Coast Section semifinals on Wednesday.
With each inning, came renewed hope for the Falcons. And each inning, Mustangs pitcher Gavin Galvez and his defense squashed those hopes.
The No. 4 Falcons had 10 hitters reach base, but none of them crossed home plate, as the No. 8 Mustangs continued their stunning run in Division IV with another upset. Homestead scored an unearned run in the first inning and tacked on some insurance in the seventh in its 3-0 win at Sollecito Park.
“It’s frustrating. You get to second and third, bases loaded, and we just didn’t get that run in, tie the game up, or even make a push for a lead,” said Sean Coyne, the Falcons’ head coach. “It happens. That’s baseball for ya.”
The Mustangs (14-9-2 overall), the sixth-place finisher in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, faces No. 6 Mountain View (16-13) in the championship on Friday at Excite Ballpark, home of the San Jose Giants.
The Spartans, the fifth-place finisher in the SCVAL’s De Anza Division, eliminated No. 2 Sequoia 9-6 in the other semifinal, held Wednesday at Willow Glen High in San Jose.
The Falcons (17-8), the runner-up in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, were attempting to reach a section final for the first time since 2007, when former MLBer Robbie Erlin was a star sophomore.
Scotts Valley saw its 10-game win streak come to a close. It was the final game for seven seniors, five of whom started in the team’s finale, and coach Coyne, who informed Athletics Director Louie Walters at the outset of the season that this would be his last.
“A lot of hard work,” said Falcons senior catcher Jack Abel, of reaching the semifinals. “All the guys worked their butts off every day at practice. It’s a great group. Even in CCS, when we pull up these freshmen, everyone has an insane work ethic. I love this team, so it’ll be memorable.”
Though the Falcons never led, they were an emotional bunch after the game. They were in it until the end, and it was the last time many of them would play together.
Both teams were emotional before the game, too. Homestead sophomore Jayden Duong, standing with teammates in front of the Mustangs’ dugout near first base, was struck in the face by an errant throw while the Falcons took infield.
The Falcons took a knee while Duong was attended to by trainers, and the Mustangs reconvened near the foul pole in right field for a team prayer. The Falcons cut their infield short and returned to their dugout. Duong, with a bloodied mouth and several broken teeth, stood up 20 minutes later and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
“You never like to see that,” Abel said. “Hearts go out to number 11 (Duong). I know he’s a baller. Yeah, it gets you down, you pray for him. But we got to go out there an try our best. Props to them; they lose one of their teammates and they come out and play a phenomenal game. Pitcher dealing; hits just weren’t falling. He had good stuff. And that right fielder (Logan Christianson), we had a lot of hits to him.”
The incident sent Mustangs coach Travis Sunseri scrambling to fill out a new lineup card. Duong is his team’s starting centerfielder, No. 2 hitter, and one of the top hitters and baserunners.
“He carried us here, and his presence was definitely felt today,” said Mustangs coach Travis Sunseri. “And I told the boys, ‘Lets rally together, get behind one another, and carry it for Jayden.’ So I’m extremely proud of each individual that participated today and carried the team. We did it for a lost brother right here.”
Andrew Sun, who replaced Duong in the batting order, scored the decisive run in the first inning. He reached on a walk, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, and third on Clay Bussey’s single. Sun scored on Howard Cheng’s RBI groundout.
“I never worried about a run,” Coyne said. “We could get that back or get a couple of runs. I was still happy where we were in the game. It just didn’t happen in the seventh. The window starts closing in near the end, and it just didn’t happen.”
Falcons starter pitcher Colin Melrose worked six innings. His defense bailed him out of a jam in the second and fifth innings, and he was the benefactor of an inning ending double play in the fourth.
Scotts Valley turned in several highlights on defense.
Third baseman Quinn Turowski made a bullseye throw to Abel for a putout at home plate in the second inning. Turowski started a double play on ground ball in the fourth.
Abel also picked off a baserunner in the fifth.
In the sixth inning, Falcons first baseman Blake LaRiviere made a leaping catch on a high throw from shortstop Kaleb Wing and, while airborne, applied a swipe tag on baserunner Cheng’s helmet for the putout. Two batter’s later, Falcons centerfielder Jacob Pauka robbed Will Hamburger of an extra-base hit with his diving catch.
The Mustangs tacked on two more runs in the seventh against reliever Cobin Giesen. Pinch hitter Brandon Yun singled and gave way to pinch runner Caden Cormier. Justin Gladfelter drew a one-out walk, and both Cormier and Gladfelter scored on Bussey’s bases-loaded single with one out.
LaRiviere had two of the Falcons’ four hits, and Abel drew three walks. Two Falcons reached third base, Parker Brown in the second inning and Clayton Pryor in the fifth, when the Falcons loaded the bases with two outs, but grounded out to end the frame.
Galvez, a contact pitcher, kept the Falcons guessing and off-balance. Fifteen of the Falcons’ 21 outs came either popouts or fly balls. Three of the fly outs looked destined for extra bases, but the Mustangs’ center and left fielder covered ground well and made the putouts look routine.
“We did hit some good balls, squared them up, but we hit them right to people,” Coyne said. “That was frustrating. That’s what I’m frustrated with, we just could get one of those to drop in.”
Galvez fielded a comebacker and threw to first base to end the game, and the Mustangs’ bench players stormed from the dugout to celebrate with Galvez and first baseman Nate Enders.
“Gavin, I’m not surprised what he did today,” Sunseri said. “It was kinda an expectation. I told him, ‘Hey, you’re the guy to get us to the ‘ship.’ And, sure enough, he accepted the challenge and did what he needed to do, and we played some good defense.”
The Mustangs took photos and sent videos to Duong after their latest upset.
THE SCORE
Homestead 3, Scotts Valley 0
End of season