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High School Baseball - Vintage Crushers

Vintage fights back to take lead twice in back-and-forth game to beat De Anza, get first playoff win since 2015

By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Juanbaldo Gomez (JBFilmz)

Kfost91197@gmail.com

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In the playoffs, you’re going to get a team’s best shot. After all, it is do or die and there is no tomorrow. 

On Wednesday afternoon at Crusher Field, No. 5 seed Vintage was able to survive this best shot given to them by No. 12 De Anza to win 5-3, in the first round of the CIF North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs. 

Vintage’s Kai Gulliksen celebrates at third after his game-leading triple in the second inning against De Anza on Wednesday. (Juanbaldo Gomez, JBFilmz)

The Crushers (17-10) initially had to come back from a one-run deficit. They did this by scoring a pair of runs in the second. Miles Tenscher reached on a fielder’s choice and then scored when Gulliksen sent a triple into the gap in right-center. A Henry groundout then brought in Gulliksen. 

“That’s all we’re asking from those guys have one good quality at-bat and Kai’s had that all year,” Vintage head coach Billy Smith said of Gulliksen’s key triple in the second. “He gets that one good quality at-bat at the right times. When our bottom half turns it over and produces like that and gets it up to the to the top of the order and turns it over to Dario and Ian, it makes things easier for our big boys that can come through.”

With Vintage down 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Buffler ripped a double to the left-center gap to bring in Kai Gulliksen and Lucas Henry who had walked in the at-bats prior. A single by Dario Freschi then brought in Buffler. 

“I was just sitting fastball up and in knowing I needed a good hit to score those runners in scoring position and gave it my all today,” Buffler said of his key hit in the fourth inning to give the Crushers the lead for good.

In the game, Buffler was just 1-for-3 with the double, a run scored, and 2 RBIs. However, he has been producing from this spot in the order all season long. 

Vintage’s Blake Porter and Austin Buffler celebrate after taking the lead in the fourth inning against De Anza on Wednesday. (Juanbaldo Gomez, JBFilmz)

This all comes after Buffler came back from a lost season due to injury last year where he also had to learn how to play right field after being a second baseman as a sophomore. 

“He did all the little things as a 10th grader, and then came back,” Smith said of Buffler. “He’s been struggling a little bit with his approach swinging-wise because of his shoulder. I’m just happy for the kids because he worked, he worked, he worked all season and it doesn’t get any bigger than a playoff game to get that double.”

Others adding to the Vintage batting attack in the game were Freschi (2-for-3 walk, RBI), James Burgess (2-for-3), and Gulliksen (1-for-2 walk, double, RBI). 

De Anza (13-12) opened up the game with a run to make things interesting. It happened when Ian Garcia doubled to left-center and scored on a single by Jose Morales Jr. 

The Dons tied the game up with a run in the third. Jason Miles doubled and got to third on an infield single by Garcia before scoring on a sacrifice fly to center field by Nikko Taylor. 

In the sixth, De Anza added one more to get a bit closer. Taylor singled and swiped second and third and then scored on a single by Ty Wilson. 

“It’s playing, not having any idea what they can do,” Smith said of the challenge of having to come back twice in the game. “The unknown and I think our kids were like the unknown. When you play your teams in league and the teams that you’ve seen, you kind of have an idea of what they’re going to do. These guys came out and they were swinging the bats and they were making us play the whole thing. Offense, defense, and pitched well. So we were a little nervous.”

Vintage’s Noah Piersig delivers a pitch to the plate against De Anza on Wednesday. (Juanbaldo Gomez, JBFilmz)

Getting the win on the bump for Vintage in the game was Noah Piersig. He struck out 6 in the game and allowed three earned runs to score. The Vine Valley Athletic League pitcher of the year also gave up 7 hits and threw 96 pitches on the way to his 8th win of the campaign. 

This win in the playoffs was a long time coming as well. It is the first playoff win for Smith since he has taken over and it’s the program’s first playoff win since 2015 when Vintage beat Franklin-Elk Grove 5-3 in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section quarterfinal game at Sacramento City College on May 14th, 2015. 

“It’s not me, I’ve got I got a great group, a staff behind me that we all do things together and these kids have been just riding the journey man,” Smith said of getting the first playoff win since 2015. “They’re working to where they want to go and now we get to play on Saturday.” 

With the win, Vintage will visit Benicia on Saturday in the quarterfinals at 1 pm. No. 4 Benicia beat No. 13 Washington of Fremont 6-4. It will be a regular-season rematch as well as Benicia beat Vintage 8-6 back on March 14th for the key tiebreaker in playoff seeding. You can view the updated playoff bracket here.  

 

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