Sultans return favor to eliminate Patriots

By Bill Dickens
Updated: May 29, 2016

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

SANTEE (5-29-16) — After suffering a surprisingly lopsided loss to Christian High in the first round of the San Diego Section CIF Division II playoffs, the top-seeded Santana Sultans had to either regroup or fold their tent.

The Sultans, however, did not lose their poise as they overcame a 12-2 lashing at the hands of the Patriots the first time around. Instead, they came back in the third round to turn in a near-perfect performance behind the pitching of junior TRISTEN SALINAS to eliminate Christian from the playoffs 8-2 on Saturday (May 28).

Thus Santana (26-4) advances to the CIF semifinals by hosting San Marcos (21-7-1) on Tuesday (May 31) at 3:30.

“It was more than just a case of trying to get even for the first round loss,” said Salinas. “We knew we were the better team but we had to go out and prove it.”

And so they did.

Santana pounced on the Patriots for 3 runs in the first inning with a two out rally. NOAH NUNEZ walked and stole second. He scored on a base hit by shortstop AIDAN RASMUSSON. As the inning continued JERRY ALESI ripped an RBI single to score Rasmusson. The Sultans then executed a delayed double steal as JACOB ODENKIRK who walked, swiped home plate.

Santana put together another big inning in the fifth, capitalizing on four walks and a 2-run by Nunez and a run-scoring single by Alesi, turning the game into a rout.

“Nunez’ hit was the biggest hit of the game,” said Christian coach MIKE MITCHELL. “We were trying to get back into the game but were unable to do so since Santana came up with several key hits with the game on the line.”

The blow by Nunez hoisted Santana’s advantage to 7-1 after five innings.

“I can’t take all the credit for this win,” said Salinas (6-1). “We have to do what it takes to win, and today we had our offense going, hit the ball well and did an excellent job on defense.”

Ironically Christian outhit the Sultans 9 to 5 but couldn’t muster much offensive firepower.

“I can’t complain because we had a pretty good season,” said Mitchell, whose team finished 19-12. “Of course we would have liked to go a couple more rounds.”

Christian received an RBI triple by JUSTIN LEDGERWOOD and a run-scoring double by JOHN GERSHOW in the losing cause.

Division II
SULTANS 8, PATRIOTS 2
Christian       ab r h bi Santana       ab r h bi
Stowers cf       3 0 1 0  Salinas p      2 1 0 0
Wehsener 1b      4 0 0 0  Hernandez 2b   2 1 0 0
Hogueisson rf    4 1 1 0  Nunez dh       3 2 1 2
Ledgerwood 3b    4 0 2 1  Jackson cf     0 0 0 0
Cazares lf       4 1 1 0  Rasmusson ss   3 1 1 1
Gershow 2b       4 0 1 1  Odenkirk lf    1 1 0 0
Nielsen dh       4 0 1 0  Alesi 1b       3 0 2 2
Josephson c      0 0 0 0  Ellis rf       2 0 0 0
NJarvis p        1 0 1 0  Pryor ph       1 0 0 0
Contreras pr     0 0 0 0  Mora c         1 1 1 1
Mazza 2b         1 0 0 0  Chambers pr    0 1 0 0
Beck ss          2 0 1 0  Miller 3b      1 0 0 0
Johnston ph      0 0 0 0  
Keltner pr       0 0 0 0  
TOTALS          31 2 9 2  TOTALS        19 8 5 6

  Christian (19-12) 001 000 1 – 2 9 1
  Santana    (26-4) 300 041 x – 8 5 1

GWRBI-Rasmusson (2).
E-Rasmusson, BJeremiah. DP-Chr 1. LOB-Chr 11, Sant 6. 
2B-Gershow. 3B-Ledgerwood. 
SB-Salinas, Hernandez, Nunez, Odenkirk, Mora. 
S-Hernandez, Miller. 

PITCHING SUMMARY
Christian         ip  h  r er bb so
 NJarvis L(3-4   3.0  3  3  3  2  0
 Stowers         1.1  1  4  4  3  1
 Bessone         0.2  1  0  0  1  1
 Gentry          0.1  0  0  0  0  0
 BJeremiah       0.2  0  1  0  2  0
Santana
 Salinas W(6-1)  7.0  9  2  2  3  6
HBP-by NJarvis (Salinas).