Vintage comes out hot in first inning with rally as Hall’s homer leads them past Justin-Siena to go unbeaten in second half of league play
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There’s an old adage in baseball that the first inning is always a window of opportunity to get a good pitcher because, after that, they tend to settle in and be hard to hit.
On Thursday afternoon at Crusher Field, Vintage took this old but wise adage to heart as they scored runs right away to lead them past visiting Justin-Siena, 4-3, in a crucial Vine Valley Athletic League game.
Before that, Vintage (11-12 overall, 7-5 VVAL) scored three runs in the first to take a 3-0 lead. It all started when John Bullock singled and Ian Fernandez reached on an error. Then Sam Gomez singled and brought in Bullock. After Hall walked to load the bases, a Jefferey Page ground out to third and brought in Ferndanez. Lastly, Carson McCaffrey reached on an error that allowed Gomez to score.
“I knew we had to come out hot,” Vintage senior first baseman Carson Hall said of the importance of scoring runs early. “It’s a really good team. Justin’s a phenomenal team out there and I knew we had to come out hot just put it on early because there’s a chance they could concede to it and they did.”
With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the fifth, Hall came to the plate and sent his first solo homer of the year way over the fence in right field to give the Crushers the lead.
“Alright, so I knew he was gonna throw me a fastball he was gonna miss,” Hall said of his approach entering the key at-bat in the game. “He’s missing his off-speed outside a lot and I knew at a 3-2 count where I just felt off to off speed in a row he’s gonna challenge fastball me. So I knew I had to put a barrel on the ball and that’s basically what happened. Put it in the trees.”
Hall ended the day by going 1-for-2 with the homer, walk, run scored, and RBI.
“We’ve been trying to get him to hit like that,” Vintage head coach and manager Billy Smith explained of Hall. “He’s got such a great eye that he’s afraid to swing in anything other than the pitch that he wants and he takes a lot of walks. And we’ve been trying to get him to do that.”
In the game, the Crusher was also led at the plate by Bullock (1-for-3 walk, run), Kai Gulliksen (1-for-3), Gomez (1-for-4 run, RBI), Johnny Alcayaga (2-for-2), and Fernandez (1-for-1 run).
Justin-Siena (11-9, 5-6 VVAL) was able to fight back and tie the game at three in the fourth. Dalen Tinsley and Jake Fletcher walked and moved up a base on a passed ball before Sam Denkin reached on an error to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Tinsley came home on a passed ball. A groundout to short by Aidan Phinney brought in Fletcher. Then, a single by Henry Meyers brought in Denkin.
“We really leaned on our culture and our grit,” Justin-Siena head coach and skipper Jeremy Tayson said of the three-run rally in the fourth to tie the game. “Our guys competed. We felt like we were pretty prepared. It’s no secret Miles is one of the better pitchers in the league and Vintage is red hot so we just prepared. We just stuck with the process and we’re able to get some things happening.”
The Braves had a chance to take the lead in the seventh when Trevor L’Esperence singled to begin the inning. Everet Johnson then came to the plate and hit the ball about as hard as it could be hit to the left-center gap before Vintage center fielder Lucas Avina came and not only robbed a hit but the game tied as well as he made a great catch to save the game. A single by Luke Giusto put runners on the first and second with just the one out. In the final at-bat of the game, Fletcher hit a ball that was looking like it could stay fair and go into the corner for an extra-base hit but Crushers right fielder James Burgess was there to make the play to get the victory.
The Braves were led at the plate in the game by Meyers (2-for-3 RBI), L’Esperence (2-for-4 double), Phinney (1-for-3 RBI), Jason Gray (1-for-3 stolen base), and Giusto (1-for-4).
In the game, Justin-Siena was just 1-for-5 batting with runners in scoring position.
Getting the win in the game for Vintage was Noah Piersig. The junior right-hander worked 3 ⅓ innings where he gave up just four hits and struck out 3. He threw 45 pitches and didn’t allow a run on the way to getting his third winning decision of the year.
“He’s one of the bigger competitors on our team – he always wants the ball,” Smith said of Piersig. “And when he gets out there, he just flips a switch and he’s just a different person. He cuts that ball in and out, up, down.”
Miles Tenscher started the game for the Crushers and worked the first 3 ⅔ innings in getting a no-decision. He struck out 3 and walked 3 on 64 pitches. The hard-throwing submarining junior righty gave up 3 runs in the game, with just 1 of them being earned.
Taking the loss in the game was Johnson. He worked 5 innings in the game while striking out 5 and walking 2 on 93 pitches. The junior righty also gave up 6 hits and allowed 4 runs to score, 3 of which were earned.
Giusto worked the last inning for Justin-Siena and gave up a hit and walked one on 14 pitches.
With today’s result, everyone in the town of Napa split with each other for the second consecutive year. Baseball is very healthy and competitive between the three schools in town.
Prior to the game, Vintage also honored their nine seniors as it was Senior Day.
The win by Vintage locks up the No. 2 seed in next week’s Vine Valley Athletic League tournament at Arnold Field in Sonoma where they will face No. 3 seed Petaluma. In the other game, it will be No. 1 seed Casa Grande against No. 4 American Canyon. Simultaneously, it eliminated Justin-Siena from participating the in the league tournament that they won just last year.
Vintage also went 1-5 the first time through league play before finishing the second round with a 6-0 mark. They have also won 4 straight.
“We were learning everybody,” Smith explained as to how his squad has been so hot as of late and unbeatable in VVAL play. “We’re learning. The coaching staff was learning the players, the players were learning the coaching staff. And we finally figured it out that ‘hey, we need to work together’ and listen to each other and know what they’re trying to do and they need to know what we’re trying to do. And we finally got on the same plane and we really started working.”
Both teams will end their regular seasons with games on Saturday. Justin-Siena will make up its scheduled game with Sonoma Valley at 1 pm that day when it will be their Senior Day. As for Vintage, they’ll travel to Windsor where the game will start at noon. When Justin-Siena last faced Sonoma Valley on April 6th, they won 1-0.
In the only other VVAL game on Thursday, American Canyon beat Napa 9-2. The updated standings can be viewed here.
