Moore & Wood lead PG to a 7-6 squeaker over Soledad in opening game.
by Brian Wood (Woodie)
Pacific Grove opened its 2020 baseball season at home Wednesday holding off a persistent Soledad team in a 7-6 victory. Sophomore starting pitcher Brenden Moore led the way hurling two strong innings, allowing no hits while striking out five. In fact, the Aztec bats only touched the ball five times, once to the second baseman and four foul balls. Moore went two for two at the plate hitting two long doubles, driving in a pair, and scoring twice.
Other standouts for the Breakers, in a total team effort, included the catching due of junior Nathan Wood and senior Daniel Rosas. Wood accounted for two hits plus a walk, two runs scored, and three stolen bases. In addition, Wood threw out two runners, backpicking each them off of second base to squelch rallies in the fifth and seventh innings as the Aztecs crept back into the game. Senior Daniel Rosas drove in a run with a sharp single in the first and later scored. While catching in the early part of the game, he tossed out a runner attempting to steal second base. The runner slid into the base, jumped up quickly after that losing contact with the bag while shortstop Jackson Destefano alertly tagged him for the out. Zach Lewis (one hit), Chianti Carter (single, two runs, and SB), Charlie McMahon (single, RBI), and younger brother, Jay McMahon (single), all added to the offensive output. Moore walked the first batter in the top of the first before settling down to strike out the next three batters. The Breakers managed a two-out, four run rally in the first inning. After Wood singled and stole second base with one out, Nolan Wade moved him to third with a ground out to the pitcher. Rosas then kept the line moving rapping a long single to right centerfield, putting Wood in for the first run. Carter reached on an error followed by Moore who hit the first of his two doubles, this one over the center fielder’s head driving in Carter from first. Charlie McMahon socked a single over the shortstop’s head pushing across Moore with run number four. Charlie’s brother Jay drove the ball to center for a single. Moore was equally good in the second striking out two while allowing a single walk. Lewis singled in the bottom of the second, but PG could not muster a rally. The younger Booker (Jacob) relieved Moore to start the third and gained help from Rosas. After the leadoff hitter reached on an error, Rosas threw the runner out at second attempting to steal. A sharp line drive found its way into third baseman Nolan Wade’s glove for out number two. After an Aztec double, the Soledad third place hitter drilled a line drive to right field that the older McMahon (Charlie) tracked down for the third out. The Breakers added two in the third to make it a 6-0 game. Carter led off with a single up the middle and stole second base. Moore powered his second double of the game over the right fielder’s head driving in Carter. After advancing to third on a wild pitch the elder McMahon (Charlie) plated Moore with a ground ball to the second baseman. Brother Jay followed with a walk and Destefano hit a solid ball to center, unfortunately it was directly to the centerfielder which ended the inning. Booker finished his second scoreless inning in relief getting fly balls to left (Moore), center (older brother Jordan), and right (McMahon senior). PG tallied its final run in the bottom of the fourth after Wood walked, stole both second and third bases (three SB on the day) before scoring on a wild pitch. Three reserves showed good form. After Colin Tavares walked, Jordan Booker hit a screamer directly to the left fielder for out number one. Colton Bell advance Tavares to third with a ground out, before Mario Bonelli hit a long fly to right to end the inning. Soledad mounted a furious comeback in the final three innings, starting with two outs in the fifth. After reliever JJ Courtney got a quick two outs (strike out and line out to center), the Soledad bats came alive as they put together five hits and a walk to score five runs before catcher Wood backpicked a runner at second base to end the inning with the score 7-5. PG went quietly 1-2-3 in the fifth on just nine pitches. In the sixth, the Aztecs led off with a double. When the next batter attempted to sacrifice him to third, the bunt was grabbed by relief pitcher Destefano who wheeled and threw a dart to Tavares at third who applied the tag for the out. The next two batters loaded the bases with a double and a hit batsman with the top of the lineup coming up next. Destefano bore down and struck out the next batter before Jonathan Ramirez hit a long fly ball to left field that Bonelli tracked first one way and then another before making an over the head catch for the final out preserving the lead at 7-5. The Breakers managed a single by Wood in the sixth with Tavares advancing him to second on a ground out, but to no avail. In the top of the seventh with sunset fast approaching and with the scoreboard providing the majority of light to the field, Soledad mustered two singles and an error which plated one run to make it a 7-6 game, runner on second who represented the tying run, and nobody out. Reliever Wade entered the game and was immediately aided by Wood who threw down to second base catching the Aztec runner in a 2-6-5-6 run down. After a walk put a runner on first (again the potential tying run), a short fly ball was hit to second baseman Jay McMahon who caught it and quickly tossed to first baseman Chad Ventimiglia for the final out. Other members of the varsity team for the 2020 season, not mentioned include Aidan Borman, Josh Mares, and Noah Potter. Coach Gil Ruiz is excited about how the team has looked so far with a team led by all-league returnees Lewis, Mares, Moore, Rosas, and Wood. PG is 1-0 and plays another non-league game on Friday (330pm) at home against Washington HS from the Fresno. They travel to Sunnyvale on Saturday looking for revenge against The Kings Academy to whom they lost in the CCS semi-final game last season.
Junior Varsity Baseball falls 5-3 to visiting Soledad
by Brian Wood (Woodie)
PG JV Baseball team leadoff hitter, Cy Turner belts a home run to right field in the fifth inning ofa 5-3 home loss to Soledad on Wednesday, March 4, 2020. Photo taken by Jared Turner.
The JV Baseball team hosted Soledad in its season opening on Wednesday. After getting off to an early lead, Soledad came back and grabbed a 5-3 victory. Spencer Nelson started the game on the mound for PG and was spectacular as he put four shutout innings into his resume. After setting down the side 1-2-3 in the first (with two strike outs), he again faced the minimum in the second (three batters). However, in addition to his third strike out of the day, he walked two batters. On both plays Nelson threw to shortstop Ryan Destefano who applied the tags for the outs. In the third Nelson struck out the side. In the fourth, Soledad again went down in order, with Nelson registering his seventh and eighth Ks of the game. Lead-off hitter Cy Turner started the afternoon for the Breakers with a double to center field and advanced to third and home on consecutive two productive ground outs by Mitch Garcia and Rosas (RBI). In the next two innings Pacific Grove put men in scoring position: Jayden Ramirez managed a single to center in the second but was left stranded at second base while Turner knocked his second double of the game in the third but could only get to third on another productive ground out by Garcia. PG added a run in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Pinch hitter Zayne Turner drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, and came home when Montana Wells reached on an error. Destefano also worked a base on balls but both he and pinch runner Jett Clarkson were left stranded. Soledad evened the contest with two runs in the fifth—on a two out rally. After reliever Sean Gambello retired the first two Aztec batters, Soledad put together a double, two singles, a hit batter, and a walk to get their two tallies. However Cy Turner answered the bell in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff home run to right field (#1 on the year) to retake the lead 3-2 for Pacific Grove. Garcia and Rosas followed with singles. However a line drive to the pitcher ended up in a double play catching the runner off of third and Rosas was left stranded at second by the end of the inning. Soledad responded with a two-spot of its own. Relief pitcher Aiden Lovera retired the first two Soledad hitters, but they then socked three singles and a double. The Breakers went quietly 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Soledad added its final run in the seventh by drawing four walks and hitting a single. However, catcher Rosas gunned down a runner trying to steal third with a great throw to third baseman Rey Avila. Avila, in fact, came in to pitch with the bases loaded and one out and proceeded to strike out both batters he faced to end the threat. PG’s bats could not muster anything in the seventh going in short order with the final score Soledad 5 and Pacific Grove 3. In addition to those mentioned above, other members of the 2020 Pacific Grove JV Baseball team include: Omar Adil, Jake Gorman, Makai Hayes, Cal Laflan, Joseph Langham, Isaac Overstreet, Sean Overstreet, and Neemah Shahidi. Coach Jeff Gray is looking forward to working with the JV Breakers team who won their Division in 2019. The JV team is 0-1 on the season (0-0 in league) and travel to Sunnyvale to play The Kings Academy at 2pm on Saturday, March 7.
Brian Wood
Pacific Grove, CA
(831) 521-0559
woodusn@aol.com
