By Brian Woodie Wood
On Saturday, Pacific Grove traveled to the Bay Area to take on Sacred Heart Prep Gators in Atherton. Although the outcome was a 7-3 loss for the Breakers, it was much closer for much of the game.
PG was never at a loss for base runners throughout the game and in the first Hunter Hanes drew a two-out walk followed by a single into right field by Kevahn Ebron. However, no runs were scored. Sacred Heart scored three in the bottom half of the inning off of a double two singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Shortstop Trevor Heyn of PG minimized the damage when, with runners on first and second and no outs, he made a fine stop of a ball hit deep into the hole to his right and threw a strike to Nathan Wood at third for the force out—the only chance for an out on the play.
The Breakers had two more base runners in the second when Wood powered a hard single to left field followed by Ben Minik who stroked a single to the left of the center fielder. Once again, the PG runners were stranded.
Starting pitcher Ebron settled down and proceeded to retire eleven batters in a row. He gained several assists in the streak on fine defensive plays. In the second inning first baseman River Watts took a high throw from across the diamond and applied a swiping tag on the batter before he could touch first base. In the fourth, left fielder Colby Burnell chased down a sinking line drive and made a sliding catch for the first out. Watts picked out a low throw to first for the final out in the inning.
However, the scoreless skein was broken in the third. Hanes hit a one-out double into left field, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and was brought home on an Ebron grounder to second. PG managed just one runner in the next two innings, when Dylan Graham was hit by a pitch.
In the bottom of the fifth the Gators scored two runs on two singles and a double. A Breaker error led to a third run and a 6-1 lead. The Breakers answered the bell, however, scoring two in the top of the sixth. Ebron led off with a single. Daniel Rosas moved him up with a single to center. Burnell bunted for a single beating the throw from the pitcher to first on a bang-bang play. Pinch hitter Josh Mares scored pinch runner Anthony Alliotti on a ground ball. Next up was Wood and with runners on the corners, he pushed a bunt down the first baseline for a single, scoring pinch runner Freddie Albert to make the score 6-3.
The Gators would add a run in their half of the sixth but not before shortstop Heyn backhanded a ground ball to his right and made a long throw to first to best the runner. The Breakers did not go quietly in the seventh as they drew two walks with one out (Graham and Hanes) before Sacred Heart closed the door to secure a 7-3 victory.
Ebron and Wood led the way for Pacific Grove, both garnering two hits and an RBI. PG (10-10 overall, 8-3 in league) travels to rival Carmel on Tuesday and then plays host to them on Friday. The two teams are tied for second place in the MTAL a game and a half behind Soledad.
