Firebaugh knocks Dos Palos out of Central Section baseball playoffs

The Firebaugh baseball team finally caught up to Efrain Del Rio’s fastball.

The Eagles lost to the Broncos’ ace twice this season, striking out 21 times in 17 innings.

On Wednesday, No. 4 seed Firebaugh (28-7) collected seven hits, including a two-run home run by Noey Garcia in the third inning, to defeat No. 8 Dos Palos 6-0 in the Central Section Division IV semifinals at Dan Street Stadium.

The Eagles will face No. 2 Golden Valley of Bakersfield on Saturday in the Valley Championship at Rawhide Stadium in Visalia at 9:30 a.m.

“We knew he was going to come at us with straight fastballs,” Garcia said.

Firebaugh had seen Del Rio enough. The 6-foot-7, hard-throwing right-hander threw two complete-game victories against the Eagles this season, including a 10-inning, 5-4 win April 14.

Del Rio held the Eagles to 10 hits in 17 innings the first two meetings, and he held Firebaugh hitless through three innings Wednesday.

The Eagles broke through against Del Rio in the fourth. Jordan Martinez led off with a double. One out later, Del Rio left an 0-2 fastball over the plate for Jason Allen, who hit an RBI double down the third-base line to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Garcia then hit a high fly that the wind carried over the right-field fence for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 3-0.

“They went up there expecting fastballs,” Del Rio said. “Every first pitch was a fastball. It’s pretty tough losing, especially to these guys. It’s our league rivals.”

The Broncos’ defense opened the door for more Firebaugh runs in the fifith. With two outs, Martinez hit a high fly ball to left that should have been caught, but it fell for an RBI double. Sal Alaniz then reached on an error that allowed Martinez to score.

Allen added an RBI single to extend the Eagles’ lead to 6-0.

“Their guys were more aggressive today,” Broncos coach Kevin Jones said. “Their pitcher (Brian Lopez) had us off balance all game. We hit him pretty hard the first time we faced him, but he pitched well (Wednesday).”

Dos Palos managed four hits, two by Ozzie Suarez, against Lopez. The Broncos loaded the bases in the fifith and sixth innings, but Lopez pitched out of both jams.

Del Rio hit .505 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs this season and hit 20 homers in the last two years combined. Fittingly, his last at-bat for the Broncos was an intentional walk in the sixth.

“I’ll never see that type of player again,” Jones said. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of guy. He’s very special.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 9:19 PM with the headline "Firebaugh knocks Dos Palos out of Central Section baseball playoffs."