For much of the game, and Oak Ridge we're locked into a grind-it-out high school baseball playoff battle at American River College on Tuesday evening.
In a game that remained scoreless through nearly five innings, the broke through when the opposing team made a pitching change in the bottom of the fifth inning.
senior Brian Celsi scored the first two runs of the game with a hit that would be the start of a seven run inning.
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As Oak Ridge's pitching staff suffered a meltdown after the pitching change, ran away with an 8-0 win, sending them to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I North Regional Championship. The Marauders will go for their sixth North title since 1994, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Jesuit junior pitcher Logan James had 10 strikeouts through six innings. His performance earned praise from his head coach Joe Potulny.
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"This was his best outing of the year," Potulny said about the lefty. "He had them in check. They (Oak Ridge) had swung the bat very, very well."
On the mound, James, who has drawn recruiting interest from Sacramento State, UC Davis, Santa Clara and Pacific according to The Bee, knew that he had the hot hand against Oak Ridge.
"I felt like I had command of all my pitches, besides the change up," he said. "I felt really good out there."
The game could have gone either way. James gave up a walk and a hit to put Oak Ridge's runners on first and third base in the top of the fourth inning. Their chance to score was spoiled with a double play to retire the side.
Even though his team won, Potulny said he hopes his team is not too confident and addressed the issue after the game.
"We're in the same boat last year and then we dropped two to Elk Grove" he said. "I felt we played fairly well the first game. I just don't think, mentally, we did a good job in the second game."
Thanks to James' pitching and Jesuit's offense clickingat the right time, the Marauders will fight for the North Regional title. Jesuit will play Friday at 5 p.m. at ARC against the winner of Thursday's match-up between Oak Ridge and Pleasant Grove.
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