A sixth-inning rally boosted the Dos Pueblos High baseball team to a crucial Channel League victory over rival Santa Barbara on Tuesday afternoon.
The Chargers overcame an early 2-0 deficit and showed impressive grit to pull away late in the game.
“I think this is kind of what we’ve been waiting for. We started out the year pretty hot, but as coaches, we saw things that we knew weren’t good. We were getting away with things, in my opinion,” said Dos Pueblos coach George Hedricks. “For us to start off a little bit slow, but dig down, not give in, and fight back — I’ve been waiting for that.”
The Dons got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Jetner Welch doubled with one out, and James King brought him home with a two-out single to give Santa Barbara a 1-0 lead.
Santa Barbara capitalized on Dos Pueblos’s defensive miscues in the bottom of the second, as Emiliano Ramirez reached on an error and scored on a single by Brandon Weaver.
That was all the runs the Dons would muster, as Dos Pueblos starter Liam Shea found his rhythm and the Chargers’ defense settled in behind him. Shea pitched a complete game, striking out five and surrendering just one earned run on four hits.
“Liam is a flat-out competitor. Even from his freshman year, he was like, ‘Why am I not pitching on varsity?’ He wants the ball. He wants to be in the big moment, and it has been that way since he was a freshman,” Hedricks said. “It has come full circle this year as a senior. He has been one of our No. 1 starters all year. The last two games he started, he had the lead when he left the game, and we didn’t hold it for him. Today, there was no way I was going to get the ball out of his hand.”
Dos Pueblos struggled to solve Santa Barbara starting pitcher Jack Paskin but finally manufactured a run in the top of the fifth inning on a groundout by Barth that scored Spencer Holtz, cutting the Chargers’ deficit to 2-1.
The floodgates opened in the top of the sixth inning as the Chargers racked up five runs on five hits. Stone Saunders singled to score Evan Bean and tie the game at 2-2. Freshman standout Mattias Di Maggio capped off the inning with a double to left field that scored Barth, increasing the Chargers’ lead to 6-2.
Di Maggio experienced his first strikeout of the season earlier in the game but bounced back with two hits.
“I’ve had some really good talent in this program — I’ve been here a long time, 15 years — and this is not to take away from any other kid that I’ve had, but he is special,” Hedricks said. “He is still a freshman. You saw him grinding at the plate early in the game, but I’ll take him at the plate any day. He is not going to make the same mistake twice.”
With the victory, Dos Pueblos improved to 14-7 overall and 6-3 in the Channel League. Santa Barbara dropped to 9-11 overall and 3-6 in Channel League play.
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