Merced High just misses out on CCC baseball sweep

At the crack of the bat, Armando Flores thought he’d produced a moment of magic.

With the bases loaded, no outs and the Merced High School baseball team trailing by three runs in the top of the seventh inning, Flores went down and got the bat head on a low 0-2 curveball. With the wind blowing out to left field, the senior got more than enough on it to carry the fence, but his grand slam bid sliced foul by a couple feet. Flores bounced into a 4-6-3 double play on the next pitch.

It was that kind of afternoon for the Bears.

Justin Parle’s squad created plenty of chances but couldn’t get the needed hit to spark a big inning in a 5-3 loss to the Bulldogs.

The loss, coupled with Atwater’s win over Golden Valley, leaves the Bears and Falcons tied for the third and final Central California Conference playoff spot heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

“We gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all you can ask for,” Parle said. “It’s a different game if we execute early on. Their guy did a hell of a job of executing when he needed to.

“We came in a confident team and expected to get going a little sooner, but that’s baseball. The kids battled, but we always seemed to be one hit away.”

The Bears (8-14, 5-5 CCC) were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in five innings against Turlock (14-7, 8-2) starter Cody Cornell, stranding six runners.

The Bulldogs had a little more success as they built a 5-0 lead after five.

Brandon Booz (2 for 2, 2 RBIs) opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning. A run-scoring single by Alex Pallios and a bases-loaded walk to Cornell helped Turlock score two more in the third. Two insurance runs in the fifth seemed to put the Bulldogs in cruise control, but Merced stormed right back.

Trevor Phillips (2 for 3) opened the sixth with a double and got Merced on the board when Tanner Pellissier tripled him in. Jeremy Mendoza chopped a ball to third, scoring Pellissier and trimming the lead to 5-2.

Merced went right back to work in the seventh when a Brent Brewer double and two hit batters loaded the bases for Flores with no one out. Turlock’s Brian Mendez came on in relief and, after Flores’ near grand slam, induced two ground balls to end the game.

“I thought it was gone off of the bat,” Flores said. “By the time I got to first I saw the wind was pushing it foul. That’s the baseball gods I guess.

“We’ve been in this situation plenty of times. We were confident we could get the bats going and get back in the game. We just couldn’t quite finish it off.”

El Capitan 4, Pacheco 3 in Merced – Tyler Skelton walked off the Gauchos with a run-scoring single against the Panthers.

Dos Palos 3, Coalinga 0 in Dos Palos – Carlos Lara tossed a three-hit shutout as the Broncos stayed hot with an easy home win.

Chowchilla 6, Liberty 0 in Madera – Kelby Grissom struck out 11 in a complete-game shutout and Caleb Crow drove in three runs for the Redskins.

Atwater 10, Golden Valley 6 in Atwater – The Falcons held off the Cougars to complete a three-game sweep and grab a share of third place in the CCC.

Softball

Atwater 4, Turlock 2 (10) in Turlock – Cheyenne Mahy struck out 18 and had a big RBI single in the top of the 10th as the Falcons outlasted Turlock.

Golden Valley 3, Buhach Colony 2 in Merced – Shyan Crutcher (3 for 3) homered and provided the game-winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh for the Cougars.

This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Merced High just misses out on CCC baseball sweep."