A slow start doomed the San Marcos High baseball team in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.
The Royals fell behind Grand Terrace 5-0 after two innings and couldn’t take advantage of opportunities to tighten the game in the late innings on their way to an 8-4 loss on Thursday afternoon at Joe Mueller field.
“For the {players} this has been a lifelong process,”said San Marcos coach Richard Schroeder. “When we won the Channel League I just said ‘really enjoy this because at some point going forward baseball is going to break your heart.’”
The Grand Terrace bats came out hot with three runs in the first inning, including a two-out double by Vasili Kazaltzes that scored Conner Burns and Vann Morris. The visiting titans extended their lead to 5-0 in the top of the second with two runs on three hits and a costly San Marcos fielding error.
The Royals got on the board in the fourth inning when Landon Johnson drove in Levi Monson, but stranded a runner on third and had another baserunner thrown out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double.
The missed opportunities continued for San Marcos in the bottom of the fifth as the Royals loaded the bases with one out, but came away with nothing as Grand Terrace starting pitcher Ray Roybal came away with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning,
Grand Terrace answered immediately and eventually stretched its advantage to 8-1 in the top of the sixth inning.
San Marcos continued to battle late in the game. Grant Hoover delivered a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and the Royals added two more runs in the seventh after taking advantage of Grand Terrace errors. Quinn Melton and Mason Crang each drove in runs during the final rally, but the comeback attempt fell short.
“We were set up to do the things that we needed to do. This was just one of the times that they didn’t,” Schroeder said. “We have to stand up and have character and say we just didn’t get it done today. It’s unfortunate for the seniors but that’s how life goes.”
Monson finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the final game of his high school career. Johnson, Patrick Foster and Will Wren also contribute two hits.
San Marcos will graduate key contributors Mason Crang, Grant Hoover, Johnson, Miles Herbert and Monson from this season’s roster.
Nordhoff, 3; Bishop Diego, 1
The Cardinals came out on the wrong end of pitcher’s duel in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 8 playoffs.
David Timewell delivered a memorable complete game performance for Bishop Diego holding Nordhoff to three runs on five hits, but Nordhoff starter Wesley Hunt was even better holding the Cardinals to one unearned run on two hits with ten strikeouts.
Ricky Fisher and Brandon Stein each collected hits for Bishop Diego and Zach Fisher drove in the Cardinals’ lone run of the ball game.
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