Saint Mary’s scores early to gain advantage, bring Justin-Siena’s season to an end
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Most of the time, one run isn’t going to be enough to win a baseball game.
Unfortunately, the No. 2 seed Justin-Siena baseball team found this out the hard way on Wednesday afternoon when they dropped their CIF North Coast Section Division 4 semifinal game to No. 3 Saint Mary’s of Albany, 5-1.
The Panthers (17-9-1) jumped on the hosts right away as they pushed a run across in the first frame. In the first inning, the visitors got on the board with a run. Caven Croom singled and got to second in the next at-bat when McGrew reached on an error by first baseman Bryce Laukert. A single into left field by Eli Barnett-Abrams brought home Croom.
Saint Mary’s pushed three runs across in the game in the second inning. Evan Kleinhans singled before getting to third on a double over the head of Gianni Natuzzi in left field by Max Barnett-Abrams. A Triston Huerta groundout to second brought in Kleinhans and advanced Barnett-Abrams to third. A wild pitch allowed Barnett-Abrams to come home. Cole Filson walked and got to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout by Elijah James. Filson came in when Derrik Bedford tried to swipe second after walking and drew a throw to allow Filson to come in.
The Panthers added one more run to the total in the third when McGrew singled and was pinch-run for by Kareem Jabar Weaver. A single by Eli Barnett-Abrams moved Jabar Weaver to third. When Barnett-Abrams stole second, Jabar Weaver came home for the Panthers final run of the game.
The Panthers also got a marvelous effort from left-handed pitcher EJ McGrew. In six innings of work, McGrew struck out 12 and walked just three.
“We don’t see too many lefties but he’s a good pitcher,” Justin-Siena senior catcher Robby Sangiacomo explained. “He had decent velocity and offspeed. I’m just trying to figure it out myself as to why we couldn’t hit him because he’s a good pitcher but it’s nothing seen before.”
He was able to do it by mixing and matching his pitches all around the plate. He also allowed just three hits and one earned run in the game.
“Worked with a great tempo,” Justin-Siena manager Jeremy Tayson said of McGrew and why he was so effective. “He’s very poised and put us away when he had to put us away.”
The lone run the Braves (20-7) scored came in the sixth when Nick Andrews led off the inning with a double into the left-center gap and got to third on a passed ball. He then came in when Matt Chadsey went with a pitch on the outside corner of the plate and poked it into right field.
“He battled it,” Sangiacomo said of Chadsey’s RBI single to get the Braves on the board. “He had two strikes pretty early and he probably did what we all should have been doing the whole game just kind of trying to poke one out to right field. He did a great job kind of starting the rally, almost have the ignition that started it, but too bad. We couldn’t continue off that, you know, capitalize off that.”
Taking the loss in his final time out with Justin-Siena was David Elias. The senior righty worked two innings, walking one, and allowing four runs to score. Three of them were earned.
Nick Andrews worked five innings of relief in his final time out. He struck out six and walked just one. The senior also surrendered just one earned run in the game.
Saint Mary’s advances to Saturday’s championship game where they’ll host No. 4 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame at 1 pm.
As for Justin-Siena, this is likely the end of the road in a season where they had plenty of success. After all, they won the first-ever Vine Valley Athletic League baseball tournament two weeks ago and picked up the first league victory over local rival Vintage this season.
“Just that everybody bought into their role, bigger, small, everyone did what they needed to do,” Tayson said as to what he’ll remember most about this team. “We just had an excellent season, we have a lot to be proud of. We won 20 games this season and we’re damn proud of it. Everyone had a moment this year that uplifted those around them.”
Tayson also said that this year’s senior class was tough after getting through all that’s been happening over the last few years.
“These are the guys that were sophomores in 2020,” he continued. “They didn’t have playoffs as junior and they did everything that was ever asked of them and really went through some real adversity off the field. I think a lot of people underestimate the toughness of this generation and it’s really easy and convenient to say that they’re not tough, but the resilience that these guys have shown not just these players, but just this generation, in general, has just been phenomenal. I couldn’t be more proud that I got to be a part of it, that our coaching staff got to be a part of it.”
If the Braves are able to sneak into next week’s CIF Northern California Regional playoffs, they’ll have to wait till Sunday night to find out their fate.
