Merced Volunteers lose on field but advance to title game by winning protest

The Merced Volunteers lost on the field but will still play for the American Legion state championship on Sunday after winning a protest.

San Mateo defeated Merced 11-7, but Volunteers coach Rollo Adams protested that San Mateo wasn’t eligible to play in the tournament because the Shockers didn’t pay for their insurance by the deadline.

The tournament directors ruled in Merced’s favor, and the Volunteers (26-21) will face Chico in Sunday’s final at 9 a.m. Merced will need to defeat Chico twice to win the state championship and advance to the Western Regional in Boulder, Colo.

“It’s not how I wanted to get there, but it’s the card I played,” Adams said. “It’s one of the reasons I stuck with the arms we used today. I knew before the game there was a good chance we would move on if we won or lost. I wanted to see how my team would perform before I protested.”

San Mateo was obviously upset with the decision.

“We beat their ass on the field,” San Mateo assistant coach Rick Lavezzo said.

Players and fans from both teams had to be separated multiple times after the game as both teams made their way up to their on-site barracks that were next to each other.

Eventually, security was called to defuse the situation.

San Mateo coaches told their parents they plan to appeal the ruling.

“They’re ineligible because they didn’t get their paperwork on time,” Adams said. “Their insurance was 25 days late. American Legion is a stickler on paperwork. I was very surprised they were allowed in the tournament. One day they were out, and the next day they were in.”

There is a history of drama between the two programs. In 2011, Merced defeated San Mateo in the semifinals to reach the championship game. However, San Mateo protested that the Volunteers used illegal bats and won the protest. San Mateo went on to lose in the title game against Chico, and Merced was sent home.

Adams appealed the decision to the national level and won, so Merced traveled back to Yountville a few days later and lost to Chico.

Again Chico finds itself stuck in the middle of the Merced-San Mateo soap opera.

“It’s kind of payback,” said Merced’s Josh May. “In 2011, when my brother, Chad, was on the team and Carlo (Del Real) was on the team. They got us in trouble, saying we used illegal bats even though the umpires check the bats before the game. This is kind of karma.”

Protests or no protests, the Volunteers have to play better. Merced again struggled with the bat in key situations, going 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position. Merced is 3 for 23 in those spots the last two games.

“We just didn’t have that clutch hit in certain spots,” said May, who went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs.

The Volunteers had the middle of the order up with the bases loaded and the score tied 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but San Mateo’s David Herman struck out Efrain Del Rio and got Carlo Del Real to fly out to right.

Trailing 10-7 in the eighth, Del Rio and Del Real again came up to bat with two runners on with Del Rio striking out and Del Real grounding out to second.

The Volunteers left 10 runners on base.

“That’s not going to get it done,” Adams said. “We had the guys you’d expect to get the job done. If we play like that tomorrow, we’ll be one and done.”

Merced did get solid offensive performances from Craig Bettis (3-3, 2 RBI) and Jeremy Mendoza (2-4, 2 Runs).

Brandon Esau also came out of the bullpen to give the Volunteers some big innings to keep Merced in the game after Lawrence Anderson and Alex Ortega struggled early.

Del Real will start the first game against Chico, which is 3-0 in the tournament, including a 1-0 victory over Merced on Friday.

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Merced Volunteers lose on field but advance to title game by winning protest."