Merced Volunteers clinch state berth

Pitching and defense took center stage as the Merced Volunteers punched their ticket to the American Legion State Tournament on Saturday.

Mitchell Miller pitched seven strong innings and the Volunteers made some highlight-reel plays behind him, as Merced defeated the Ed Stewart Mets 6-1 in the Area 3 championship game at Merced College.

“I got ahead of about half of the hitters with first-pitch strikes,” Miller said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. I kind of had to put my head down and grind it out. I was kind of battling the umpire with the strike zone.”

The Volunteers (24-20) had a two-run first inning, highlighted by Josh May’s leadoff home run to right. May launched a 3-2 fastball off Mets starter Evan Fagundes, who pitched for St. Mary’s High School this spring.

“I was looking to start off the game with some runs,” May said. “I made solid contact with it. I knew it was gone when I hit it.”

Evan Hanneman then drove in Carlo Del Real with a single.

Fagundes and Miller settled in, as the pitchers controlled the game early. Miller held Ed Stewart to one run in seven innings. Ed Stewart scored 23 runs in a win over Lodi on Friday night to reach the championship game.

Miller received plenty of defensive support from shortstop Kobe Nguyen and Del Real at third base. Second baseman Craig Bettis made a nice backhand play in the fifth inning to save a run. Outfielder Lawrence Anderson made a diving play in foul territory in the eighth inning.

Meanwhile, Fagundes kept the Mets in the game by not allowing the Volunteers to get the big hit in key situations. After collecting 14 runs and 12 hits against the Mets on Friday, the Volunteers were just 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position Saturday.

“I expected the same type of game, but baseball doesn’t always go like you thought it would,” May said. “Weird things happened in this game.”

After scoring a run in the fourth on a wild pitch, the Mets had a run taken off the board. Ed Stewart thought it had tied the score at 2-2 after Nick Chapman drove in Fagundes with a double down the line.

However, Merced’s Rollo Adams argued the ball rolled out of play for a ground-rule double, and the umpires agreed, sending Fagundes back to third. Miller got Mateo Romero to fly out to end the inning with a 2-1 lead.

Bettis thought he had an RBI double in the eighth to give the Volunteers a 4-1 lead, but he ended up with only the RBI. The Mets appealed that Bettis didn’t tag first base, and he was ruled out. The run still counted.

The Volunteers added two runs in the ninth as Miller led off with a double and Lawrence Anderson followed with an RBI double. Anderson scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 6-1.

Efrain Del Rio pitched the final two innings to earn the save. The slugger also collected three hits and went 6 for 7 in the two games with three runs and four RBIs.

“After Josh hit the home run and we scored those runs in the first inning, I thought we relaxed a bit,” Adams said. “I didn’t think we swung the bats like we’re capable of. Those at-bats we had at the end of the game, we should have been taking those swings the whole game.”

With no other Legion ‘A’ teams in the area in recent years, the Volunteers have been given an automatic berth into the state tournament.

Winning the Area 3 tournament gives Merced, which has won six games in a row, momentum heading to Yountville. The Volunteers open the six-team state tournament Thursday at noon against the Paramount Pirates.

“Making it to state is more of an accomplishment,” May said. “It was harder to get there this year. It’s more of a privilege instead of (having) it just given to us.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Merced Volunteers clinch state berth."