DJ Santellano had passed the century mark in his pitch count through seven innings and Gavilan College had a pitcher ready in the pen to come in the eighth.
The sophomore playing in his last game at home as a Ram asked his coach to let him go one more inning against Cabrillo.
“After the seventh inning, my coach told me I was at 103 pitches and I pleaded with him to let me go one more inning and he gave it to me. I appreciated that,” Santellano said.
The Hawks were up 6-2 at the time—eventually winning 7-5—but had been mostly quiet on the bases after a five-run explosion in the first.
Santellano got his wish and except for a two-out, one-on triple, he threw a solid eighth to conclude his day.
“Coming off that mound in the eighth inning was very emotional for me,” Santellano said.
It didn’t look like the starting center fielder would last much beyond the first after yielding five runs to lead off the game.
“A lot of guys would have cashed it in after a few bloops behind them in the first inning and things not going too well,” said coach Neal Andrade.
Andrade complemented his pitcher, who normally starts in center and only comes in to give the regular starters a break, coming into the game with 20.1 innings pitched.
Behind an error at third to lead off the game and a catcher’s interference that killed a shot at an inning ending double play, Gavilan’s defense breathed life into the Coast Pacific Conference champions.
Cabrillo officially clinched the conference title, taking a two-game lead over Cañada by improving to 18-5 in Coast Pacific play.
Caleb Fidiam hit a two-RBI double, followed by a Matt Valdez two-RBI single and a triple from Josh Thorpe allowed the mistakes to haunt the Rams early.
And offensively, Gavilan had as much trouble getting going as well.
Cabrillo starter Ryan Capozza allowed just two hits over his six innings of work.
“He had thrown two or three pitches for strikes and keeping us off balance. We didn’t have much of a treat there other than when he walked guys, we had some opportunities,” Andrade said.
Gavilan didn’t record its first base knock until the fourth when Jake Conlan hit a one-out double.
“That guy is a rally starter. It happened a lot this year where we haven’t started scoring early. We’re a late blooming team, but we never give up,” Santellano said.
The Rams did walk five times with Capozza on the hill, but couldn’t advance past second until the sixth when Andrew Bueno launched a shot into the outfield that was dropped by Cabrillo centerfielder Naz Thibodeaux allowing Adam Kocina and Conlan to score.
Conlan had the hot bat of the day, going 2-3 with two doubles, a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.
“I’m really happy for him. He deserved that; he worked hard (for it),” Andrade said.
He was left waiting on deck in the ninth as a two-out rally to steal the game fell short.
Javier Jimenez drew a one out walk and Kocina walked two batters later. Danny Gutierrez then hit an RBI single with two outs to pull the Rams to 7-5.
Gutierrez’ single was extended his hitting streak to 33 games. He has gotten a hit in 34 of 35 games this season. The only time he went 0-for-the-game was in the second contest of the season where he went 0-4 against Siskiyous in the first part of a doubleheader. Thanks to the streak, he is batting .408, which leads the conference and is fifth in the state
After Gutierrez’ hit, Cabrillo’s Tyson Renowden got Steve Martinez to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
This represented the final home game for nine Rams players
“I loved working with them every day. I’ve seen people get better over the days at practice over here. I try to do as much as I can to help out everybody on this team, whether it’s the mental part of the game or the physical side.”
