GILROY—Tuesday’s forecast called for bright and sunny skies, but there was a Hale-storm at Christopher High.
Gilroy ace Justin Hale brought his A-game and made quick work of the Cougars, helping his team to a 7-4 win at CHS.
The senior pitcher struck out five batters, walked one and gave up just one earned run on seven hits over seven innings of work.
“Hale threw a great game; Hale was lights out,” Christopher coach Ryan Dequin said. “He came out and just shut down every inning and we didn’t help ourselves out at the plate.”
Even though they trailed by five in the final inning, the Cougars never gave up.
Justin Nelson hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh and Richie Rios reached first after being hit by a pitch. A single from Anthony Rodriguez scored Nelson to get Christopher within four with no outs. Bryan Easton hit a sacrifice fly to score Rios, but a beautiful diving catch by Patrick Hsu at third base and a strikeout ended the game with two Cougars left on base.
“This is a great group of kids; they don’t get down on themselves or each other,” Gilroy coach Billy Holler said.
Both teams were scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. Dominick Johnson led off with a double to deep right field and Ben Reeder came in to pinch run for him. Alex Benavides reached on an error, moving Reeder to third, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Back-to-back singles from Dallas Wilson and Patrick Hsu pushed both runners across home plate to put Gilroy ahead 2-0.
But the Mustangs’ lead was short lived.
Christopher’s Rios was walked to start the second and quickly stole second base. Rodriguez moved Rios to third with a hard line drive to centerfield, which was good for a double. Both came home to tie the game at 2-2 when a hit from Darren Santos was misplayed at first base.
Rodriguez led Christopher, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored. Santos was 1 for 2 with two RBIs.
Gilroy didn’t flinch and scored two more in the top of the fifth inning. Hale singled and was brought home off a Jimmy Lemberger triple that reached the fence in right field. Lemberger had plenty of time to come home as Benavides doubled on the next play to put the Mustangs ahead 4-2.
And they weren’t done yet.
An error and a double put Hsu and Jon Jon Castro on third and second, respectively early in the top of the sixth. A wild pitch from Josh Wheat scored Hsu and put Gilroy up by three. Tommy Castro singled to right field on the next play to score Jon Jon Castro and increase Gilroy’s lead to 6-2 with no outs.
Justin Nelson took over on the bump for Christopher and got three quick outs to end the inning.
The Cougars had a chance to do some damage in the bottom of the inning as they loaded the bases with no outs. But Hale went to work, forcing a pop up and back-to-back strikeouts to leave three stranded.
“When I was struggling, my teammates picked me up. When they were struggling, I picked them up,” Hale said. “(The defense) stepped up in the clutch. It’s everything to make good plays when things get tough on you.”
Johnson singled to start the seventh and scored off an error that allowed Wilson to reach first to put Gilroy ahead 7-2. Wilson was caught on his way to second, however, and that would end the scoring for Gilroy.
Johnson led Gilroy, going 2 for 4 with a run and stolen base. Wilson was 1 for 3 with two RBIs, while Hsu went 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored.
The two teams will face off one more time at 4 p.m. May 8 at Gavilan College.
