Matt Hemeon was praying.The Gilroy High senior had just
connected with a lofty, medium-deep fly ball to right field and
could only watch as it was nabbed and fired quickly to home
plate.
By Mark Powell Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – Matt Hemeon was praying.
The Gilroy High senior had just connected with a lofty, medium-deep fly ball to right field and could only watch as it was nabbed and fired quickly to home plate.
“Right when I saw the ball heading out there, I started saying a little prayer,” Hemeon said. “I knew it was going to be close.”
It was close – but Gilroy junior Kevin Grove, tagging up from third base on the play, slid home safely without a tag to give the Mustangs a 6-5 win in nine innings and a share of the Tri-County Athletic League title for the first time since 1991. San Benito beat North Salinas 6-1 to also earn a share, while Salinas blew a 7-4 lead and lost to Palma to cost itself a piece of the crown.
“That was textbook baseball,” said Grove, who doubled to right to begin the ninth and reached third on a wild pitch. “All I needed was someone to hit me in and Matt stepped up and did it.”
The game also signified a measure of revenge for the Mustangs (22-11, 9-3) who were upended by Alisal 7-2 on April 17.
“We were lucky to get that one,” Trojan head coach Jeff Eaton. “(Gilroy) is a championship-caliber team, not to say we’re not trying to get to that level ourselves. I’m very happy with the way our boys played today.”
Alisal (9-15, 4-8) surrendered four first-inning runs to Gilroy and trailed 5-0 by the third inning before chipping away at the Mustang advantage. A run by the Trojans in the third made it 5-1 and Andrew Suarez-Lopez blasted a leadoff home run in the fourth to close the gap to three.
“At times, after the first couple of innings we might have been on cruise control,” Gilroy coach Clint Wheeler said.
Michael Stevens relieved Grove on the mound for Gilroy in the fifth inning after an RBI double by Alisal’s Javier Gonzales whittled the score to 5-3. Gonzales would score on a sacrifice fly by Osvaldo Guijosa and Suarez-Lopez would follow with a single to left field to tie the game at 5-5.
“It’s frustrating because we’re obviously the better team,” said Stevens, who pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief to pick up the victory. “But I understand that other teams are going to be hungry and battle against us. I just have to tell myself, no matter what, I’ve got to go out there and pitch.”
While the Trojans battled tough, Wheeler said he felt it was only a matter of time before the Mustangs found a way to win.
“Our guys are confident,” Wheeler said. “And after the first inning they knew things were going to get turned around for us eventually.”
It was tied through seven and both had their chances for a win in the extra frames. Grove walked to start the home half of the seventh and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Senior first baseman and clean-up hitter Tyler Osborne showed bunt on Ramirez’s first offering but his at-bat ended two pitches later on an infield pop-out.
Alisal chose to intentionally walk Hemeon, Gilroy’s next hitter. Sophomore Derek Engen’s sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third for the Mustangs, but catcher Lucas Fortino grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
“Historically, (Alisal’s) program is usually down,” Wheeler said. “But both teams kept hammering away. We just needed to put pressure on them in the later innings.”
The Mustangs found themselves once again in near-prime position to win the game in the eighth.
Danny Contreras singled to left field with two outs and promptly stole second base, moving to third on an errant Alisal throw. But with Contreras sitting 90 feet from victory, Stevens grounded to first base to send the game to the ninth.
Alisal had its chance in the ninth. With one out and two runners in scoring position, Stevens got the hot-hitting Ramirez to fly out easily to right field. Grant followed by grounding back to Stevens, ending Trojans final time at the plate and Gilroy finally put the game away on Hemeon’s sacrifice fly.
“Hey, I’ll take a split with the league champion,” Eaton said.
