Tuesday, May. 13, 2008

Shawn Jansen: No Saturday madness, and that's a shame

Former Merced High baseball coach Lou Souza credits buddy Keith Petiti with coining the phrase "Suicide Saturday."

It was the perfect way to describe the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South playoffs.

Eight teams flocked to Billy Hebert Field in Stockton for do-or-die playoff games.

Four teams survive and four teams head home with their seasons over.

It made for an intense Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately, we won't see a "Suicide Saturday" this season.

The section has switched venues for the south playoffs this year.

Buhach Colony and Golden Valley will play at Klein Family Field at the University of the Pacific.

"It was an opportunity to change to a new facility," Sac-Joaquin Section assistant commissioner John Williams said. "They wanted us. They got lights last year. Hopefully, it's good for everyone."

WHILE IT was enjoyable watching the games at Billy Hebert Field, the change to UOP should provide a better experience for fans.

"The biggest problem with Billy Hebert was that the Ports don't play there anymore so they didn't have concessions for us," Williams said. "We had to find a local high school to run concessions.

"That was something we looked at when a new venue became available."

The biggest drawback as far as this columnist is concerned -- no "Suicide Saturday."

The UOP baseball team will be playing at home this week against Cal State Northridge.

Thus the section has decided to spread the four first-round games over Wednesday and Thursday.

"Suicide Wednesday and Thursday" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

The North will still hold all four first-round games on Saturday at American River College.

"We look at Division I as its own entity with a North bracket and a South bracket," Williams said.

"All things being equal, we'd like to run the North and the South identically."

Which they aren't.

Golden Valley opens the playoffs at 7 Wednesday night against Tracy.

Buhach Colony plays Lodi on Thursday at 4 p.m.

A win means a return trip to UOP on Monday.

The scheduling changes this year definitely give coaches some options if they advance out of the first round.

Especially Golden Valley.

In the past, the second round games came just two days after "Suicide Saturday."

That meant teams would trot out their No. 2 pitcher.

In the old format, teams usually couldn't go back to their ace until their third or fourth game.

With a first-round win on Wednesday, GV could conceivably throw ace Trevor Cesar in its first two playoff games.

It's no secret Golden Valley is a much better team with its Duke-bound senior on the mound.

The right-hander is 7-0 this year with a 0.77 ERA.

CESAR WOULD have four days' rest before Monday's second-round game.

However, GV coach Scott Solis appears to be leaning toward right-hander Kyle Potter if his team makes it out of the first round.

"Trevor is better when he gets his rest," Solis said. "He also has plans beyond high school and we don't want to jeopardize that."

You have to respect a coach thinking about the health of his player first.

I cringe when I hear stories of kids throwing 150 pitches in high school.

On the other hand, you'd maybe want to see how Cesar felt on Monday.

To have success in this tournament, it really helps to stay in the winners bracket as long as possible.

It's brutal on even the deepest pitching staff to try climbing through the losers bracket.

And speaking of deep pitching staffs...

You can't really draw up a bad playoff format for Buhach Colony.

WITH A SET of aces in Dylan Floro, Brett Mooneyham and Justin Koehler, BC is easily the team to beat.

After clinching the Central California Conference title last week, Buhach coach Wayne Fitzgerald wasn't ready to tip his hand about who will get the ball Thursday against Lodi.

Frankly, I'd be shocked if Floro didn't start.

While Mooneyham is close to unhittable, he has walked 14 batters in his last nine innings.

Koelher only started one CCC contest this year.

Remember, it was Floro who got the call in the opening playoff game last year as a sophomore and pitched well in a 7-2 win over Grace Davis.

He hasn't done anything this year -- 8-1 with a 0.69 ERA -- that would make you think he couldn't do the same thing to Lodi.

If BC can advance out of the first round, Fitzgerald's boys are going to be tough to beat twice in one week.

After going just 1-2 in the playoffs last year, something tells me they might stick around a little longer this time.

Meanwhile, someone needs to come up with another catchy name for this week's two-day first round.

Perhaps "Mid-week Mayhem" -- or "The Two-Day Tussle."

I think it's time to get Keith Petiti back on the case.

Shawn Jansen is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2462 or via e-mail at sjansen@mercedsun-star.com.