Patriots pummel Sultans; Vaqueros’ rally erased

By Bill Dickens
Updated: May 26, 2016

Christian's Kyle Stowers (4) rounds third base during the Patriots' win over Santana on Wednesday.

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

SANTEE (5-26-16) — Upsets are commonplace in the San Diego Section, particularly in the playoffs. The knockouts came by the handful in Wednesday’s (May 25) competition.

Front and center in East County was No. 8 seeded Christian High’s smothering of No. 1 Division II seed Santana 12-2.

Remember now, this is a top-seeded Santana squad that came in with a 24-3 record during the regular season. They were the Grossmont Valley League champions and a team that had lost fewer games than any crew in the section.

Apparently the visiting Christian High Patriots were not impressed by Santana’s healthy record.

Christian set the tone early as Stanford bound KYLE STOWERS rifled a shot over the center field fence off Santana ace DAULTON BARRY in the first at-bat of the game.

That was a trend-setting blow as the Patriots riddled the Sultans all afternoon, slashing out 16 hits off four Santana pitchers.

“It was a fast ball, up,” said Stowers who nailed his 4^th round-tripper to start off the game. “I was thinking when I was running around the bases that I wanted to extend my senior season.”

Stowers had a big day with the bat as he was 2-for-3 with 3 runs scored, a double and 2 RBI.

“I told my guys that I didn’t want the season to end for any of us today,” he added. “That we needed this game as a stepping stone to the next round.”

Another major cog in Christian’s dominance of Santana was pitcher JOHN GERSHOW. The senior right-hander turned in a complete game victory, scattering 6 hits and allowing only 2 runs. He posted his 7^th win in 10 decisions.

Six Patriots enjoyed multiple hit games, led by second baseman GARRETT MAZZA who was 3-for-4.

Christian is now 2-0 in post-season play heading into a showdown against No. 4 seed San Marcos in North County on Friday (May 27) at 3 p.m. rather than the previously scheduled 3:30. The earlier time start was set due to graduation at Christian on Friday.

“Santana is a much better team than they showed today and I hope we don’t have to play them again,” said Patriots coach MIKE MITCHELL. “I know when you’re the No. 1 seed you have a target on your back. Everybody is out to get you so the pressure is on you.”

Gershow recalled how Christian was beaten in the first round of the playoffs a year ago.

“We don’t want that to happen again. It feels good to be 2-0,” said Gershow who pitched his first complete game of the year. “I’m sure we shocked a lot of other people. We know we’re a better ballclub than we’ve shown down the road, so now it’s our chance to showcase our talent.”

FRANCIS PARKER 5, EL CAPITAN 3 – It’s been a long season for Oregon-bound pitcher TRISTAN DUNCAN who has suffered more rocky roads than smooth sailing for the El Capitan Vaqueros this season.

Duncan turned in a respectable performance against Francis Parker, allowing 7 hits, 4 earned runs, one walk and 6 strikeouts but still was stuck with his 6^thloss in nine decisions in Wednesday’s (May 25) San Diego Section Division II first round of the playoffs.

El Capitan erased a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the sixth with 3 tallies of their own.

The Vaqueros collected the equalizer with a combination of a base hit by KENNY OLHAUSER, a walk to VICTOR CARLINO and a 2-run double by JASON MOORMAN along with a wild pitch to tie the game.

Parker punched out 2 runs in the top of the seventh to come away with the victory.

El Capitan will host Westview in the second round on Friday (May 27) at 3:30 in Lakeside.

By Bill Dickens, © EastCountySports.com

Division II
PATRIOTS 12, SULTANS 2
Christian      ab r h bi Santana       ab r h bi
Stowers cf      3 3 2 2  Salinas cf     4 0 1 0
Wehsener 1b     3 1 2 2  Hernandez 2b   4 1 1 0
Hogueisson rf   3 2 2 2  Nunez rf       0 1 0 1
Ledgerwood 3b   4 0 1 1  Odenkirk lf-p  3 0 1 0
Cazares lf      4 0 2 3  Rasmusson ss   3 0 1 1
Gershow p       5 1 2 1  Alesi 1b       3 0 0 0
Nielsen dh      3 1 1 0  Ellis dh-lf    3 0 1 0
Hester pr       0 0 0 0  Mora c         2 0 1 0
Keltner pr      0 1 0 0  Miller 3b      3 0 0 0
Mazza 2b        4 2 3 1
Beck ss         3 1 1 0
Contreras ph    1 0 0 0
TOTALS      33 12 16 12  TOTALS        25 2 6 2 

  Christian (19-10) 230 100 6 – 12 16 0
  Santana    (24-4) 001 010 0 -  2  6 1

GWRBI-Stowers (2).
E-Miller. DP-Chr 1. LOB-Chr 9, Sant 6. 
2B-Stowers, Wehsener, Ledgerwood. 3B-Hernandez. 
HR-Stowers (4) 1^st, solo. SB-Gershow, Keltner, Mazza, Ellis. 
SF-Stowers, Hogueisson, Nunez, Cazares.

PITCHING SUMMARY
Christian          ip  h  r er bb so
 Gershow  W(7-3)  7.0  6  2  2  2  2
Santana
 Barry   L(6-3)   1+   4  5  5  0  0
 Calvert          5.0  5  5  5  3  2
 Mosburg          0.1  5  6  5  2  1
 Odenkirk         0.2  2  0  0  0  1
Barry faced 2 batters in the 2^nd inning.
HBP-by Barry (Nielsen), by Gershow (Nunez). WP-Calvert. 

LANCERS 5, VAQUEROS 3
Francis Parker   ab r h bi El Capitan       ab r h bi
Allen ss          4 0 1 0  Olhauser cf       3 1 1 0 
Hastings c        4 1 2 1  Carlino 2b        2 1 1 0
Hayes 2b          3 1 1 1  Moorman c         3 0 1 2
Yourg lf          3 0 2 1  Montejano c       0 1 0 0
Burnett 1b        4 0 1 1  Dunne dh          3 0 0 0
Campagna 3b       3 0 0 0  Medford rf        2 0 0 0
Nicita dh         3 0 0 0  Lindsay 1b        3 0 1 0
Neels rf          2 1 0 0  Duncan p          2 0 0 0
Chatfield cf      3 2 1 0  Dones ph          1 0 0 0
Stewart           0 0 0 0  Colson p          0 0 0 0
Risse             0 0 0 0  McClanahan lf     3 0 1 0
                           Larwa ss          2 0 0 0
                        Penedeto ss       1 0 0 0
                           Wannamaker p      0 0 0 0
TOTALS          29 5 8 4   TOTALS           25 3 5 2

  Francis Parker (18-10) 000 003 2 – 5 8 0
  El Capitan     (15-14) 000 003 0 – 3 5 2

GWRBI-Hayes.
E-Duncan, Lindsay. DP-EC 1, FP 1. LOB-FP 6, EC 4. 
2B-Hastings, McClanahan, Moorman, Lindsay. SB-Hayes. SF-Hayes.

PITCHING SUMMARY
Francis Parker     ip  h  r er bb so
 Risse  W         6.0  5  3  3  1  3
 Stewart Sv       1.0  0  0  0  0  1
El Capitan
 Duncan L(4-5)    6.0  7  5  4  1  6
 Colson           1.0  1  0  0  1  2
HBP by-Duncan (Risse). WP-Risse 2.