Los Banos baseball making the most of extra games

Sometimes, a jolt to the system is all a good team needs to realize its potential.

It certainly seems to have done the job for the Los Banos High School baseball team, which enters Wednesday one victory away from a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship game.

It’s an incredible run, considering a couple weeks ago the Tigers were two games out of the Western Athletic Conference’s third and final playoff spot with two games to play. Los Banos needed to sweep a home-and-home series with last-place Central Valley and hope Ceres did the same against El Capitan to earn a third-place tie with the Gauchos, over whom Los Banos owned the tiebreaker.

After a shaky first game with Central Valley, both scenarios came to pass, and the Tigers (18-8-1) have run off five victories and knocked off No. 1 El Dorado. A 1-0 victory over No. 4 Placer on Saturday gave No. 8 Los Banos a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, which resumes Wednesday at Tony Zupo Field in Lodi with the Tigers trying to reach first final since winning the Division II crown in 1994. Game 2 is set for 4 p.m., with the deciding game to follow if necessary.

“We’re definitely riding the high, but at the same time have to ask yourself how,” Tigers coach Pat Fuentes said. “It was a crazy couple weeks. We went from battling for a conference title to being out of the playoffs to being back in and going on this run.

“The second the kids stepped on the field at Zupo, they played like they’ve been doing it since they were 7 years old. All those little things that we talked to them about during the summer, we’ve been executing. And right now, everyone you play is good, so those are the things that decide these games.”

The run came close to never happening as Central Valley stormed back from a 5-2 deficit in the seventh inning of the May 4 meeting. The Hawks trimmed the lead to 5-4 and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with one out. A game-ending double play saved the day for the Tigers, and Fuentes delivered a gut-check speech after the game.

The reality of the situation seemed to hit home, as Los Banos has outscored its opponents 33-7 in four games since.

“This group has really shown me a lot,” Fuentes said. “They’ve come together and are playing for each other. As their coach, they’re not always happy with me when I come down on them, and that’s fine. But if they’re playing for each other, that’s all you can hope for.”

Los Banos won’t be the only team hoping to keep its title hopes alive Wednesday, as Chowchilla and Dos Palos take part in Central Section Division IV semifinals.

Fresh off their upset of top-seeded Exeter, the No. 8 Broncos (23-8) will square off with league rival No. 4 Firebaugh. Dos Palos swept the season series. On the other side of the bracket, No. 5 Chowchilla (21-6) will travel to No. 2 Golden Valley. Both games are slated for 4:30 p.m.

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Los Banos baseball making the most of extra games."