Late-inning offensive eruption leads Napa past American Canyon
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In close games, it is crucial to pull away late in order to get the victory.
On Friday afternoon, that’s what the Napa High baseball team did when they erupted for four runs in the bottom of the sixth that led to a 6-3 victory over American Canyon.
It all started when Leo Saldivar singled and got to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a double by Dylan Scopesi. After the Scopesi single, Thomas Hatton doubled and they both scored on a double down the right-field line by Kaleb Matulich. Matulich then came home on a double by Elliott Zuidema.
“What’s going through my head was second and third, they’ve got to go in,” Matulich said of his at-bat in the sixth. “They’ve got to go to that home plate right there, so I just gotta do something.”
Napa manager Jason Chatham said his team hit the ball hard before the eruption in the sixth.
“Tthe first couple innings we had lifted a bunch of balls into the air,” he explained. “The wind was blowing out a little bit today, and we have a lot of guys with pop. So we had to make an adjustment and say ‘listen, we want to make sure that we’re keeping that front shoulder down over the plate as opposed to yanking out a little bit stay within ourselves.’ That was really the adjustment there.”
The Grizzlies (9-9 overall, 4-3 Vine Valley Athletic League) scored their first two runs of this one in the third. Matulich doubled down the left-field line and moved to third when Zuidema reached on an error before scoring on a Dylan Snider groundout. Zuidema later scored when Jaedon Mendoza threw the ball up the left-field line on a back-pick at third base.
Matulich ended the day going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, a single, a stolen base, two runs scored, and two RBIs.
“It’s just having the confidence to say I can hit the ball. I can do what I need to do to help my team,” Matulich said of his great day at the plate that also included catching the game’s final out. “That’s just the mindset I’ve been missing from the past couple of games that allowed me to kind of open up my shell and kind of unleash.”
Others playing important roles at the plate in the game for the Grizzlies were Hatton (1-for-1 double, run scored), Zuidema (3-for-4 double, two singles, two stolen bases, run, RBI), Saldivar (2-for-3 two singles, run), Scopesi (1-for-3 single, run, RBI), and Chapouris (1-for-3 single, stolen base).
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, it was just a one-run game after the Wolves scored their first run in the fifth. Ryan Landaverde was hit by a pitch and stole second before scoring on a Brandon Torres double.
“When you get your base runners on and when we can start putting pressure on the defense, that’s huge for us,” American Canyon head coach Matt Brown said of the fifth. “ That’s kind of our game and we just had a hard time getting guys on early on.”
American Canyon (1-17, 0-7 VVAL) also pushed two more across in the seventh when pinch hitter Davyon Lucas launched a two-run homer to left field that also scored Mason Harris who singled to begin the inning.
“Davyon is a big, strong kid,” Brown explained. “He hits the ball hard, and he’s had a knee injury. So his playing time has been spotty, so we were looking for a way to get him an at-bat, and the fact that Mason came out and got a hit to lead off the inning, it was a good spot to put Davyon in and he came through. It was a great hack.”
Leading the Wolves at the plate was Lucas (1-for-1 home run, run scored, two RBIs), Harris (1-for-1 single, run), Peterson (1-for-2 single), Mario Juarez (1-for-3 single), and Torres (1-for-4 single).
Getting the win on the bump was Dylan Newman. Over a complete-game effort, he struck out 10 and walked just two. He also gave up three runs and just five hits on a very efficient 83 pitches.
“Dylan did what he does. He’s just typically a guy who keeps it around the plate and forces contact,” Napa High head coach Jason Chatham said of Newman’s effort. “(He) usually doesn’t strike out a bunch of guys, but usually doesn’t give up a bunch of hard contact. That’s what he did.”
Newman said everything was working for him up until the two-run shot in the seventh.
“Everything was working until one of the last batters just took that ball deep,” he explained. “But the rest of the game was just doing like the little things, just hitting locations and all that, and then it seemed to work out.”
Pitching well but getting the loss was Peterson. In 5 and ⅔ innings of work, he gave up five runs of which three were earned. He also walked two and struck out two in 99 pitches.
Both teams will continue league play on Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm. Napa will travel to Petaluma to take on the Trojans. As for American Canyon, they’ll host Casa Grande.
The last time Napa faced Petaluma on March 25th they lost 3-0. Meanwhile, American Canyon lost to Casa Grande 12-2 on March 25th. In the only other VVAL game Friday, Casa Grande beat Sonoma Valley 11-1. To view the updated league standings, go here.
