Mustangs blow five-run lead in final frame to fall to Palma,
8-7
GILROY – Junior right-hander Carlos Garcia was pitching a gem of a game, holding power-hitting Palma High to only two runs over the first six innings of Tuesday’s pivotal league contest.
With the Mustang diamondmen ahead 7-2 going into the final frame, Garcia took the mound in hopes of notching a complete-game victory – which would keep Gilroy High in the T-CAL title race.
But after allowing a lead-off base hit and plunking the next batter, Garcia’s day was over, as Mustang skipper Clint Wheeler turned to junior reliever Peter Mickartz to close out the game.
“I wanted to stay in. (My arm) was feeling good,” said Garcia, who could only watch in disgust from the home dugout as Palma rallied for six runs to steal an 8-7 victory from the Mustangs. “It was really tough.”
Once Gilroy was retired in the bottom half of the seventh with a runner stranded 90 feet away, the league title was all Palma’s.
“Today, we just couldn’t close the door,” Wheeler said. “We got great efforts from a few guys, but we needed a couple more from some other guys. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Barry Knappe’s seventh-inning grand slam on an 0-2 fastball from Mickartz was the decisive blow – which hit the top of Gilroy High’s rightfield fence and bounced over.
“I try to let my guys call the pitches, but they made a bad selection,” said Wheeler of the fastball right in Knappe’s bread-basket after two straight heaters. “It could have been anything but that.”
Mickartz gave up two hits – an RBI single and the four-run bomb – and issued three walks – one which forced in a run with the bases loaded – before getting a strike-out to end the seventh inning.
“He’s been struggling with his command all year,” said Wheeler of Mickartz. “Today, he couldn’t get his stuff over when he needed to.”
While the heart-wrenching loss hurt Gilroy, mathematically eliminating them from title contention, it hurt even more for Garcia, who pitched well enough to win for the second straight game only to come up on the short end of the stick. The other came in last Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Live Oak when Garcia allowed only one earned run over seven innings.
“That’s two in a row for him. He’s just been a hard-luck pitcher,” said Wheeler of Garcia. “I tried (to give him the opportunity to close out the game). He was at 105 pitches and I said, ‘That’s it.’ If we want to be champions, we need other guys to step up.”
Although it didn’t happen on the hill, Gilroy had a couple of clutch performances at the plate. Senior Ben Hemeon, who is still one home run shy of breaking the school’s single-season mark of seven, went 4-for-4 with four runs-batted-in.
“I’m just seeing the ball really well,” said Hemeon, who wants wins more than breaking the home run record. “It’d be nice to break it, but I’m not worried about it. … I think about it a little bit, but all I try to do is get base hits. Home runs will come.”
After starting with a single in the first inning, Hemeon doubled in a run in the third, singled in two more runs in the fourth, and singled home one more run in the sixth. But alone it was not enough.
“This was definitely the toughest loss. I thought we had them with a five-run lead. That was crazy,” said Hemeon after Gilroy lost its second straight game for the first time all season. “I hope we just come back strong against North Salinas on Thursday and then Live Oak (on Monday).”
With Tuesday’s 12-0 victory over Salinas, the Acorns are now tied for second with Gilroy at 8-5 in league. San Benito also got a win yesterday, defeating North Salinas 7-0, to remain one game back at 7-6 in T-CAL. Palma, which secured the title, is atop the league standings at 11-2.
Junior rightfielder Marty Sustaita reached base three of his four at-bats. He reached on errors in the second and seventh innings, and smacked an RBI single in the third inning to put Gilroy ahead 2-1 at the time.
Sophomore centerfielder Josh Sterling also got on three times, working a walk to lead off the first inning and reaching on errors in the third and fourth innings.
After Palma took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, Gilroy grounded into double-plays to end threats in the first and second innings before scoring two in the third to take a one-run lead.
The Mustangs extended to a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning and then responded to a Palma run in the sixth with two more in the bottom half to extend to a 7-2 lead.
Following the Chieftains’ six-run seventh inning, Sustaita legged out a high chopper to third base and sophomore catcher Chris Hernandez sacrificed him to second base. But Mickartz grounded out to short and senior Ron Colmon struck out looking to end the game.
BAD BLOOD: Before Tuesday’s wild contest even started at 4 p.m., the teams were at each others’ throats. Palma arrived late to Gilroy High – 15 minutes before game-time – and began hitting whiffle balls to warm up. But at 3:45 p.m., the Mustangs took the field for infield practice. Palma did not clear out, so Wheeler began hitting balls to his fielders. The Chieftains did not take kindly to that.
“We had words before the game,” Wheeler said.
So after Knappe’s grand slam gave the Chieftains the lead in the seventh inning, Palma senior Luke Lippencott pointed at Wheeler from the opposing side as he yelled comments to the Mustang skipper.
“They didn’t have very much class at the end,” Wheeler said. “They think I don’t have a clue. Well, they are the ones who don’t have a clue.”
