Mustangs manage one hit in 7-2 result.
GILROY – The pitching was there for the Gilroy High baseball team in Wednesday’s league opener against Salinas with senior left-hander Todd Gimenez going six strong innings and surrendering only three runs.
The hitting, however, was a whole different story for the Mustangs as senior lead-off man Brian Collom’s sixth-inning base knock was his squad’s only hit off Salinas right-hander Chris Shively – who went the distance to hand Gilroy a disappointing 7-2 home loss.
“Todd pitched a great game. He kept us right in it. I couldn’t ask for more out of him, especially when we didn’t really show up to play at the plate,” said skipper Clint Wheeler, following an extended postgame talk with his players. “We didn’t have any good at-bats until the fifth or sixth. Todd kept us right there. He did a great job.”
Even with a shakey second frame – in which Gimenez forced in the first Salinas run on a hit-batsman before getting out of the bases-loaded jam – and two home runs off the bat of Cowboys’ catcher Patrick Garcia, the Mustangs were still every bit in the game.
“(Shively) has been around a while. It’s his third year on varsity. He’s a solid pitcher. He comes right after you, but we were not ready to play today,” Wheeler said. “We had no emotion. We had no fire. We had no focus at the dish. We let him get ahead and then we let him throw us his curveball and when you’re behind, it’s tough to hit.”
Gimenez kept the score close with some wicked stuff of his own, giving up four hits and allowing five free passes (three walks, two plunks), while Shively breezed through the Gilroy line-up – compiling eight strike-outs during his complete-game victory.
“It’s been our problem all year. We can’t hit very well right now,” Gimenez said. “I was feeling all right. There’s only so much I can do. Number 17 comes up and jacks two off me and that kind of pissed me off.”
But the Gilroy bats did not wake up until the sixth inning when Collom singled hard to center – winding up on third base with the ball bouncing off the Salinas centerfielder and going deep into the outfield.
“It felt good because I thought we were going to spark it up and come back, but nothing happened after that,” said Collom of breaking up the no-hitter. “He wasn’t that great. We were just being scared and we weren’t taking the pitches that we should’ve took.
“He was placing it pretty good, but we weren’t taking advantage because he threw two fastballs every time first two pitches and we didn’t swing at it,” the senior centerfielder added. “Then, every time we’d be striking out looking and striking out swinging. We can’t do that.”
The Mustangs did muster a run in the sixth as senior second baseman Greg Lucio’s sacrifice fly to left-field scored Collom from third base and cut the gap to 3-1. But the Gilroy rally was shortlived – ending on its next at-bat.
“If you come up here like we did in the sixth and the seventh, then you’re right in the game,” Wheeler said. “But we’ve got to do it all seven. We’ve got to scrap and claw all seven innings and right now we’re not doing it.”
In the top of the seventh, the Gilroy relievers did not do it as senior John Kirkish walked the only two batters he faced and sophomore Peter Mickartz gave up a 2-RBI single before hitting two more batters. When the inning was all said and done, the Mustangs were looking at a six-run deficit instead of two.
“Our two relief guys didn’t help us out,” Wheeler said. “We didn’t know our bunt rotation – which I think we take a little pride in here – and we didn’t know what we were doing out there, so it is frustrating.”
The first two Gilroy batters reached base on errors to open the bottom half of the seventh and senior third baseman Eric Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly scored one. The Mustangs threatened for more – but settled for just one run and the loss.
“I think we’re just waiting to blow up. We’re just waiting for it. We’ve got guys like Collom. He’s hitting the ball all over the place. He’s the only one hitting the ball,” Gimenez said. “We need to start doing our jobs, the little things. We strike out looking – that kills us. That just brings everything down. When you strike out, you get pissed off and then you just lose your head for the rest of the game. We just need to work on not striking out.”
The Mustangs travel to Salinas on Friday to finish up the home-and-home series at 3:30 p.m.
“I think we need to buy in. We can be a solid team. We really can be, but right now they need to understand we’re not going to hit the ball out of the yard. We’re not going to sit here and just blow guys away,” Wheeler said. “They need to scratch and claw every single pitch, offensively and defensively, and they’ll be successful.”
