Wood’s impressive performance leads Vintage past Justin-Siena
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
With the playoffs coming every game is crucial to secure a berth.
So, when two local rivals met up it was a must-win for both.
In the game Vintage beat Justin-Siena 6-1.
The game was dominated in large part by Vintage senior starting pitcher Eli Wood. Over 6 and ⅔ innings pitched he struck out nine and walked three in 104 pitches.
“I had my curve ball going and my slider mainly,” Wood said. “But mainly I was trying to pump with the fastball, get ahead of guys, and it seemed to be working through the first five, six innings, so I was happy about that.”
“The difference was Eli Wood,” Justin-Siena coach Jeremy Tayson explained as to what the difference in the game was. “That guy’s a good pitcher, and we attacked him early in the count and didn’t get much to show for it, and you can’t get deep in the count on the count because he just gets dirtier as the at bat goes on.”
“Eli gives us a great performance every time,” Vintage coach Rich Anderson said of his ace. “To be honest with you I just feel bad he an out of gas because he wants to throw a complete game right there, so we gave him a shot to do it with a five-run lead. But, then we just had to hook him at the end and he knew he was gassed too, but Eli just competes and he’s super poised and he never gets caught up in the moment or anything. So, he’s everything you want on the hill.”
The Crushers (8-10 overall, 4-3 Vine Valley Athletic League) scores their first run of the game in the top of the first. Ethan Hemmerlin singled and later scored on a Wood single.
“It’s always good supporting yourself on the bump because you need runs to win,” Wood explained. “But, guys have been getting on base for me and I’ve just been trying to do my job as the four hitter. Hitting them in, that’s all you can do, so I was just trying to get (a) fastball and hit the ball hard.”
Vintage also scored three more times in the top of the fourth. Wood began the inning by walking before scoring on a Ian Avalos single. Avalos later scored on a single by Logan Nothmann. After singling Jake Whipple came home on a single by Hemmerlin.
“Our offense wasn’t as good as it’s been the last week or so,” Anderson explained of his team’s offensive effort. “But two out hits have been big for us and we did get some two out hits today, so that was impressive.”
The Braves (7-9, 2-5 VVAL) scored their only run on the bottom half of the fourth inning. Luigi Albano-Dito singled and then came home on a single my Marcus Nunes.
The Crushers stingy offense put the game away in the top of the seventh when they scored twice more. Davide Migotto walked and Wood singled before coming home on a Avalos single.
Alex Kirley took the loss for Justin-Siena. He went 3+ innings, striking out four and walking one.
Vintage will be back in action on Friday at 4 p.m. when they host Sonoma Valley in what will be a key game. On March 26th Sonoma Valley beat Vintage 4-2. Meanwhile, Justin-Siena won’t be back on the field until Wednesday when they host Napa at 4 p.m. On March 29th Justin-Siena beat Napa 6-3.
