GILROY — Friday’s crosstown clash between Christopher and Gilroy looked as if it was going to get ugly real fast.
After just two innings, the Cougars held a decisive 5-0 lead over the hosts and showed no signs of slowing down. But Gilroy ace Justin Hale had other plans. The junior pitcher settled down and found his groove and allowed just one hit over the next five innings. Hale allowed six hits through seven innings while striking out four and walking three. The offense, unfortunately for the Mustangs, showed up just a bit too late as they fell 5-2 to the Cougars in the game rescheduled from an April 1 rainout.
“Justin’s one of the top pitchers as a junior,” Mustangs coach Billy Holler said. “He might make a mistake here or there, overthrow every once in awhile. I’ll go with Justin anytime. Unless they’re just absolutely crushing the ball, but not too many teams do that. They hit, they’re a good hitting team.”
Christopher’s Nathan Bonsell was equally as good, giving up two runs on seven hits, four strikeouts and two walks through five and a third innings. Gilroy started to get to the Cougar pitcher in the bottom of the sixth, when Hale singled to deep centerfield to push Dallas Wilson into scoring position after he was hit by a pitch. Sammy Aptekar doubled two batters later to score Wilson and put Hale on third. Hale came home off an Alex Vega single which led to the curtain call for Bonsell.
Hale went 2 for 4 with a double and run scored. Aptekar was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.
Christopher’s Anthony Bartholic came in for the save and quickly got the job done. He allowed just one hit and struck out one over one and two third innings.
“We fought back early, got guys on base and made things happen,” Christopher coach Ryan Dequin said. “Just getting ahead early was big, obviously you saw they can come back at any time—they’ve done it plenty of times throughout the season. Putting up those runs early was huge.”
Christopher jumped ahead 1-0 after Tyler Fhurong singled to score Richard Suarez. The Mustangs were able to escape what could’ve been a much more dangerous situation as Brian Easton was tagged out to end the inning, stranding two Cougars on base.
Christopher wasted no time getting on the base in the top of the second. Andrei Arroyo was hit by a pitcher and moved into scoring position after Mike Sanchez singled down the left field line. An infield single from Ralphy Ortega sent Arroyo racing home to put the Cougars ahead 2-0. Brennan Wilson was walked on the next play to load the bases and Suarez hit a sac fly to score Sanchez. Two unearned runs crossed the plate as Ortega would score on a wild pitch and Wilson would steal home to put his team ahead 5-0.
Suarez had two hits, a run and stolen base in the game. Ortega had an RBI on one hit and a run scored.
“What we’ve got to do is get unselfish, do the small things that need to be done,” Holler said. “That’s it. It’s just small parts of guys stealing home where they should’ve been out on the stretch, not out of the wind-up. It’s just the small things and part of it’s coaching—probably 80 percent of it’s coaching.”
The win improves Christopher to 11-8 overall, 8-6 in league play and second place in the Gabilan Division behind San Benito. One more league win will essentially secure the Cougars a playoff berth, but Dequin said he has much high expectations for his team.
“You never want to limp into the playoffs,” Dequin said. “We want to keep going and keep going strong. …You never ride the highs too high, you never get down on the lows too low. We just have to keep a nice, even keel.”
The Cougars will play a non-league contest at Santa Teresa at 4 p.m. Thursday. They will return to league play at 4 p.m. April 29 when they host Monte Vista Christian.
Gilroy rebounded with a 1-0 non-league win over Soquel Saturday on the road to improve to 5-10 overall. The Mustangs will have a bye this week before returning to action at 4 p.m. April 29 at Palma.
