El Capitan baseball pulls off upset, reaches section Division 3 semifinals
As the seventh seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 playoffs, the El Capitan High baseball team went into Friday’s matchup against second-seeded Vista del Lago as the road underdog.
That didn’t faze the Gauchos, who went into Folsom and pulled out a 4-2 victory.
The win sends El Capitan into the Division 3 semifinals, a best-of-three series against third-seeded Manteca next week. Manteca defeated sixth-seeded Ponderosa.
El Capitan is 23-7 overall and won the Central California Conference with a 14-1 record. Manteca is 28-6 overall and finished second in the Valley Oak League at 13-5. The Gauchos were seeded seventh due to a weak strength of schedule.
Here’s the semifinal series schedule:
- Tuesday: El Capitan at Manteca, 4 p.m.
- Thursday: Manteca at El Capitan, 4 p.m.
- Friday, El Capitan at Manteca, 4 p.m. (if necessary)
Top-seeded Rio American and fifth-seeded Christian Brothers will play in the other semifinal series.
El Capitan and Vista del Lago were tied 2-2 heading into the sixth inning, but the Gauchos blew the game open with two runs in the top of the sixth.
Senior Travis Pavey had a big game offensively for the Gauchos, driving in three runs. Junior Noah Ruiz went 3 for 3 and drove in a run.
Senior starter Zach Hunter pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits. He struck out eight. Sophomore Brennan Casey closed out the victory to earn the save.
