Vintage takes advantage of errors, uses ground attack to beat Napa and get Big Game split for second straight season
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
A good ground game can be absolutely lethal when it’s working. It just puts so much pressure on the defense that errors happen and the number of runs on the scoreboard just keeps climbing.
On Thursday afternoon at Mount Field, Vintage forced the issue by using a variety of hit-and-run and straight-up stolen bases to beat Napa, 6-3, in the final Big Game of the season that was also a crucial Vine Valley Athletic League contest.
The Crushers (7-10 overall, 3-5 VVAL) also seized control immediately as they scored three runs in the first inning. It all started when Carson McCaffrey singled and advanced to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run where he went to third on a single by Ian Fernandez, which was followed by a Fernandez steal of the second before both came in when Carson Hall reached on an error that allowed him to get to second. Hall then scored when Jefferey Page reached by way of another error that allowed him to swap places with Hall.
“The baseball Gods finally came and gave us a couple (of) sun balls,” Vintage head coach and manager Billy Smith said of the first inning where his team capitalized on mistakes to get an early lead. “That’s a tough field to play and even if that is your home field, that sun is tough.”
Vintage went up 4-0 when they added another run in the third. It started when Fernandez singled before stealing second and third. He then came in on a Page single.
In the sixth, the Crushers tallied another run when Kai Gulliksen hit a pinch-hit double into the left-center gap and scored on a McCaffrey single.
Finally, Vintage scored their final run in the seventh when James Burgess walked and stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch. He then came home on a bad pickoff attempt that went to the fence, allowing Burgess to score.
“You can never get enough runs in baseball,” Smith said of the other three runs his squad tacked on during the game. “So in the past, we’ve wasted those opportunities, and it came back and got us and so every time we’ve actually been coming through and getting some good opportunities to score so I’m happy with that.”
In the game, the Crushers also used the ground attack to use their running game in order to score a lot of their runs. In the game, they stole six bases.
“We wanted movement,” Smith said of using the running game to force the issue. “I wanted us to move today. I wanted to put them in play and some hit-and-run and some steals and I wanted to get moving to create some holes.”
In the game, the Crushers’ batting attack was led by Page (2-for-3 walk, stolen base, RBI), Fernandez (2-for-4 2 runs scored, 3 stolen bases), Gulliksen (1-for-2 double, run), Gabe Pacheco (1-for-2), Lucas Avina (1-for-2), and McCaffrey (1-for-4 run, RBI).
Napa (5-9, 3-5 VVAL) scored their first run of the game in the fourth when Graham Chapouris walked and got to second on a groundout, and then scored on a single by Trent Adams.
In the seventh, the Grizzlies rallied to make the game interesting as they scored a pair of runs. Cam Aldous, Mason Bartlett, and Chapouris all singled to load the bases. A walk by Noah Massey brought in Aldous, and then a walk by Collin Taylor brought in Bartlett.
“Our boys did a good job of taking what was given to them,” Napa High head coach and manager Jason Chatham said of the seventh where his team fought back to make it interesting. “I think that’s the story of the game is that both teams gave each other an awful lot of things.”
In the game, the Napa offensive effort was led by Chapouris (1-for-2 run, 2 walks), Collin Taylor (1-for-3 walk, RBI), Bartlett (1-for-3 run), Aldous (1-for-3 run), and Cameron Taylor (1-for-3).
It also didn’t help that the Grizzlies had a hard time getting the clutch hit with runners in scoring position in the contest. Though they only had four chances, they were unable to cash in on any of them.
Maybe the biggest thing that hurt Napa in the game was the number of uncharacteristic errors they made. After all, they had seven of them in this game.
“We didn’t take care of the baseball in the first inning and this is an aberration,” Chatham said of the sloppiness. “I mean, we have had a couple of games where we got a little bit sloppy. It’s been a long time since that’s happened. We’ve been taking care of the baseball for the most part. Today, it wasn’t the crazy plays. It was the routine plays that we didn’t take care of so that’s uncharacteristic of us.”
Getting the win in the game for Vintage on the bump was Miles Tenscher. The submarining right-hander worked 6 ⅔ innings in the game striking out 12 and walking just 2. He also gave up just 5 hits, and 3 runs, with 2 of them earned while throwing 105 pitches.
“The slider I was kind of trying to overthrow it a little bit and I just really had to rely more on the fastball,” Tenscher said of his outing. “Once I came to that then I was more down with the fastball.”
It’s just more of the same for Tenscher after dominating in his last outing on Saturday. He also earned his second win of the season.
“You’re seeing exactly the Miles Tenscher that he is,” Smith explained of the impact Tenscher had in the game. “He is really good and having him on the mound helped our kids in the batter’s box (be) a lot better. Knowing that Myles is on the mound creates a little more looseness for our team to go up there and have better at-bats and maybe be a little bit more optimistic on the basepaths too. So Miles just earned everything he’s done. He’s out there every day working his craft and I’m just super proud of him and he wants the ball and he kind of he proved to us that he wants to be a starter and he definitely is our number one.”
Taking the loss in the game was Adams. The hard-throwing junior worked 6 innings and threw 102 pitches. He allowed 5 runs to score with just 1 of them being earned.
“I thought Trent was money,” Chatham said of Adam’s day on the hill. “His whole thing is that he fills up the strike zone. So when he was at 70% strikes, that’s a really high percentage for a high school pitcher. That’s a high percentage for a Major League pitcher. In terms of everything, he was fantastic.”
Massey worked the final inning of the game walking 2 and striking out 1 on 27 pitches. He also gave up an unearned run.
Vintage will have back-to-back non-league games this weekend when they host Acalanes of Lafayette on Friday at 4 pm and then visit Mirimonte in Orinda on Saturday at 10 am. Their next VVAL game will be at home against Casa Grande on Tuesday at 4 pm. As for Napa, they will be back in action on Monday at 4 pm when they face Casa Grande in Petaluma.
In other VVAL games on Thursday afternoon, American Canyon beat Petaluma 5-3 and Casa Grande beat Justin-Siena 3-2. You can view the updated league standings here.
New year, same Big Game Split
Just like last season, Napa and Vintage split both Big Games by winning on the road. If you’re looking for logic as to why it’s been this way, you’re not going to find it.
However, it is getting to the point where you can nearly write in what game a team is going to win because this oddity keeps happening.
“The VVAL has been pretty even,” Smith pointed out. “It’s Big Game, anything happens. It’s just that’s the kind of game.”
It’s also a sign of parity in the league and how close every game truly is. There are no easy games in the VVAL.
“All the splits that are happening with the Napa city teams are a little bit crazy,” Chatham said of all the splits. “You know, I definitely wanted to win this one on our home field today, we had a lot of people out, you know, to support. One thing that I wanted to point out is that our program has brought a lot of energy to the school. Something that as a classroom teacher at Napa High I’m very proud of I see it in the classroom, I see it in the students. The energy level for our program is making an impact on the school. I wanted to win this one for the school. These boys wanted to come out and win this one for the school. But it’s a split and I don’t know why it keeps happening like that. I think it’s just rivalry games. I think that both teams want it so much that, you know, just evens out.”
All that’s needed for the town split is for Vintage to beat Justin-Siena on May 4th. Will we see everyone in Napa split with each other? That is still to be determined.
