Friday was a beautiful day for baseball at California High's Noble Field, but the action on the field wasn't pretty.
The starting pitchers for both Cal and Monte Vista struggled early, with neither making it out of the second inning. By the end of the third, the Grizzlies led 7-5 and there it would stay as the they held to pick up an East Bay Athletic League victory.
Cal (5-6-1, 2-1 EBAL) starter Evan Brisentine was hit hard early, allowing seven hits and walking two in a inning and a third. The Mustangs took advantage and scored five in the top of the second inning to take a 5-2 lead.
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On the other side of the rubber was Monte Vista junior Mike Casper, who struggled with his control. In the inning and a third he lasted, he walked more batters (6) than he got outs (4). Junior Cameron Keysor came on in second and continued right where Casper left off, walking or plunking four of the first five batters he saw.
The Grizzlies coaxed a total of 10 free passes in 6 innings worth of ABs.
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An understandably distraught Mustangs head coach, Bill Piona, expressed his frustration after the game.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened today," he said. "You don't throw strikes, you're going to lose. Pretty simple."
Brian James, another Monte Vista junior, came in and threw strikes four strong innings of no-hit relief. It was all for naught, however, as Cal High countered with senior Cory Elliot, who shut out the Mustangs over the final 5 2/3, fanning six.
"This league is tough," Cal coach Dan Ward said. "You can't try to throw the fastball by everybody. You have to have at least a second pitch you can throw for a strike. Both sides had trouble finding the strike zone today, but we finally settled down, made a pitching change, and got some quality innings out of Elliot."
The Mustangs (4-9, 1-2) collected 11 hits but managed only five runs. Amazingly, Cal did all of its damage with just two hits, neither of which were RBI knocks. Three of their runs were scored on walks, two on fielder's-choice groundouts and one each on an error and a hit batsman.
"That's pretty much the game," Monte Vista assistant coach Carl Alioto said. "We didn't make them earn it."
Seniors Steven Kohlman and Taylor Prentice collected three singles apiece, but neither would make it around to score.
The Mustangs started an inning with a base runner only twice.
Monte Vista is a much younger team this year than it was last year, but Piona doesn't want to keep using that as an excuse.
"Inexperience is a part of it," Piona said. "But halfway through the season, we've got to start figuring it out."
Alioto offered his perspective, saying, "We're at the point where we feel like we can beat anyone, but also lose to anyone. That's always been the way this league is, and it's especially that way this year. We've been in almost every game this year. We just haven't put anything in the wins column lately."
Monte Vista has lost four straight and will face a tough Foothill team (10-3, 3-0) in a makeup game Saturday.
box score
Monte Vista 5, California 7
Monte Vista (4-9, 1-2) 050 000 0— 5 11 2
California (5-6-1, 2-1) 241 000 — 7 2 0
Monte Vista (ab-r-h)—Castiglioni 4-0-0, Kohlman 4-0-3, Prentice 4-0-3, Beaman 4-0-1, Dimartino 4-1-1, Binning 3-1-1, Harrell 2-1-1, Carr 3-1-1, Lacy 2-1-0. Totals 30-5-11.
California (ab-r-h)—Leon 2-3-1, Sarmenta 2-2-0, Moen 2-0-0, Peter 4-1-0, Kochan 2-1-0, Smith 3-0-0, Coll 1-0-0, King 3-0-0, Defazio 2-0-1. Totals 21-7-2.
Pitching
Monte Vista— Casper 1 1/3 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 6 BB; Keysor 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 2 HP; James 4 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 2 BB.
California— Brisentine 1 1/3 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 K, 2 BB; Elliott 5 1/3, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 1 HP.
Batting
2B— Dimartino (MV). RBI— Kohlman 2 (MV), Prentice (MV), Carr (MV), Lacy (MV), Moen (Cal), Peter (Cal) Kochan (Cal), Smith (Cal), Coll 2 (Cal).
Foothill 3, Monte Vista 2: Monte Vista held a 2-0 lead for most of the game before the Falcons came back late in the game.
Foothill tied the game with a pair of fifth-inning runs before taking the lead in the sixth.
It was the fifth-straight loss for host Monte Vista (4-10, 1-3 EBAL), which will try to end the skid at Livermore on Wednesday. Sophomore C.J. Robertson accounted for two of the Mustangs' three hits — including a double — and scored a run.
Keven Strong pitched well, allowing two runs in five innings of work.
It was the second comeback win in as many days for Foothill, which overcame a 5-run deficit in a 15-14 win against De La Salle on Friday. The Falcons (11-3, 4-0 EBAL) remain undefeated in EBAL play — a game and a half ahead of Amador Valley and California.
Cal-bound Michael Theofanopolous and Matt Owen each went 2 for 3 for Foothill, which hosts Granada on Wednesday.
—Staff report
Foothill 3, Monte Vista 2
Foothill (11-3, 4-0 EBAL) 000 021 0— 3 8 1
Monte Vista (4-10, 1-3) 200 000 0— 2 3 0
Rowland, Mannion (6) and Hisaka. Strong, Beaman (6) and Kohlman. Highlights: F — Theofanopolous 2 for 3, RBI; Owen 2 for 3 2B, R, RBI; Camarena 1 for 2, RBI; Rowland 5 IP, 2 R, 3 hits. MV — Robertson 2 for 3 2B, R; Strong 5 IP, 2 R.
