Big inning eliminates Buhach Colony from playoffs

It was a promising start for the Buhach Colony High baseball team on Thursday night against St. Mary’s.

The Thunder scored two runs before the Rams could record an out in the first inning. Buhach Colony had a 3-1 lead against St. Mary’s, which has won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South championship seven years in row.

Then the fourth inning happened.

It started with a leadoff walk and by the time Jarron Silva and Christian Almanza both hit two-run doubles, the top-seeded Rams had pushed across six runs in the inning as they went on to defeat the No. 9 seed Thunder (14-15) 7-3 at University of the Pacific’s Klein Family Field.

“We came out swinging it well even though we left some runs still out there,” said Buhach Colony coach Greg Wakefield. “We tattooed a couple balls, we executed, but we knew we had to keep doing it. (St. Mary’s) is the No. 1 seed for a reason.”

It looked good for Buhach Colony early.

The Thunder struck early with a pair of runs in the first inning against St. Mary’s starter Isaiah Bettencourt.

Mike Casso and Nick Singer led off the game with back-to-back singles and Logan Coe followed with a double off the left-field wall to give BC a 1-0 lead. Singer then came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Thunder had an opportunity to score more, but Bettencourt settled down to strike out Kory Woods with runners at the corners and then got RJ Garcia to ground into a double play to end the threat.

It didn’t take long for the Rams to answer back as Jarron Silva led off the first inning with a triple down the first-base line and Dillon Tatum singled him in to cut the Thunder lead to 2-1.

Buhach Colony added another run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Christian Witt to extend the lead to 3-1.

Woods was able to wiggle out of a big jam in the third after a leadoff walk and a double by Silva set up the Rams with two runners in scoring position with no outs.

However, Woods got a ground ball and strikeout for the first two outs. Then Almanza hit a ground ball to BC’s Ubaldo Romo at shortstop. Romo’s throw to first was high and wide, but Thunder first baseman Adam Homen was somehow able to keep his foot on the bag.

“I still wasn’t trying to do too much,” Woods said. “I know my teammates have my back on every pitch.”

The Rams finally cashed in on three walks and an error to plate six runs in the fourth inning.

It all started with a leadoff walk to Anthony Galindo. Jonah Tzintzun then hit a high fly ball into short left field that Singer couldn’t handle and it dropped for a single.

The Thunder outfielders struggled playing under the lights and with a strong wind blowing right to left.

Mike Casso was brought on to relieve Woods and walked Michael Mandonca to load the bases.

Ramil Pinzon then hit a high fly ball to deep left-center field that BC center field Logan Lemas ran a long way to track down, but he couldn’t come up with the catch, allowing one run to score to cut the lead to 3-2.

“It’s tough to prepare for these conditions because we don’t have lights and we don’t have this wind,” Wakefield said.

St. Mary’s Charlie Johnson then drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the tying run. Silva followed with a two-run double and two outs later, Almanza doubled in two more runs to give the Rams a 7-3 lead.

The Rams went to their bullpen early as Nick Swanson came on in the fourth inning and he only gave up two hits and one hit batter the rest of the way to pick up the win.

“He was more of a strikeout guy,” Woods said. “They brought the better stuff out of the bullpen. He had a different arm angle, different velocity. He was definitely a different look and he kind of fooled us.”

St. Mary’s will advance to Monday’s action against Bear Creek at 7 p.m.

It was the end of a positive season that saw the Thunder reach the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

“That was huge for us,” Woods said. “I’ll go back to what I’ve said before, I’d rather go to battle with these guys over anybody else. The trust we’ve built is unreal.

“Hopefully us seniors helped set the standard for the younger players to get back here.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 12:23 AM with the headline "Big inning eliminates Buhach Colony from playoffs."