Baseball: Foothill Loses, Still Controls Own Destiny

San Ramon Valley 3, Foothill 2

Records: San Ramon Valley 16-7, 9-4 EBAL; Foothill 17-6, 10-3 EBAL

The Star: Foothill's Brandon Defazio homered in the first inning and nearly gave the Falcons the win, but a nice place by San Ramon Valley shortstop Cameron Cox preserved the for the Wolves.

The Turning Point: Bobby Geren walked with two outs in the seventh to move Cox to second and bring Craig Massoni to the plate. Massoni singled to drive in Cox and the Wolves had their first lead of the game.

The Quote: "We still control our own destiny," Foothill coach Angelo Scavone said. "We got to come out and play well on Friday. Crosstown rival for the league title in front of the whole city, it doesn't get much bigger than that."

Who's Next? San Ramon Valley is at Monte Vista on Friday, while Foothill is at Amador Valley.

The Bottom Line: Foothill falls a game behind Amador Valley in the EBAL standings. Amador got a walk-off home run from Chris Keck to beat Granada 7-6 in 9 innings of Wednesday. A win for Foothill would give the Falcons a piece of the EBAL title and lock up the league's automatic bid in the North Coast Section Division I playoffs. San Ramon Valley helped their resume for the NCS seeding committee, but can finish no higher than a second-place tie. 

———————————————————————

It shouldn't be hard for the Foothill baseball team to put Wednesday's 3-2 East Bay Athletic League loss to San Ramon Valley behind it.

The Falcons may have lost a shot to win the outright league title, but a win on Friday at rival Amador Valley will secure a piece of the EBAL championship for Foothill and give the team the league's automatic bid in the North Coast Section Division I playoffs.

 "We still control our own destiny," Foothill coach Angelo Scavone said. "We got to come out and play well on Friday. Crosstown rival for the league title in front of the whole city, it doesn't get much bigger than that."

Follow live updates from the game at www.twitter.com/patchsportseb

Foothill led for most of Wednesday's game, but allowed a run in each of the final two innings to let it slip away.

San Ramon's Craig Massoni singled past the diving glove of Foothill third baseman Jake Jefferies in the top of the seventh to score Cameron Cox, giving the Wolves the 3-2 lead, its first of the game. (video of the play)

After SRV starting pitcher Kyle Slinger worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, coach Chris deClerq went to Jake Papavich to close it out in the seventh.

The junior righty made it interesting by walking Will Anderson and hitting Garrett Moore to start the inning. David Camarena's sacrifice bunt put runners and second and third before Matt Owen was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out.

Walking Owen paid off when Jefferies grounded to Massoni at first, who was able to come home to get the force out. With Brandon Defazio, who hit a two-run homer in the first, up next, the Wolves weren't out of the jam yet.

"If you make any mistakes with Defazio, he's going to hit it hard," deClerq said.

The Oregon State-bound senior did hit it hard, but Cox was able to range to his left at short, field the ball on a hop and spin to toss the ball to Donald Bedard at second to end the game. (video of the play)

"Foothill is a good team," deClerq said. "They're going to have a go at the North Coast title."

Foothill starter Michael Theofanopolous didn't factor into the decision after allowing two runs and three hits in 5 1/3. Matt Owen was tagged with the loss.

Slinger was credited with the win after allowing two earned runs in six innings, while allowing four hits and striking out three.

———————————————————————

San Ramon Valley 3, Foothill 2

San Ramon Valley (9-4 EBAL) 010 001 1 — 3 5 1

Foothill (10-3) 200 000 0 — 2 4 1

SRV — Fishman 4-0-0, Cox 4-1-1, Bo.Geren 3-1-1, Massoni 3-1-1, Quinlan 3-0-0, Bedard 1-0-0, Love 2-0-1, Br.Geren 3-0-1, Dutto 3-0-0.

Foothill — Owen 3-0-1, Jefferies 4-1-1, Defazio 3-1-1, Theofanopolous 2-0-0, Rowland 3-0-0, Viceral 3-0-0, Anderson 2-0-1, Moore 2-0-0, Camarena 2-0-0.

Pitching

SRV — Slinger 6 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K; Papavich 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K.

Foothill — Theofanopolous 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 6 K; Owen (L) 1 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K.

Batting

2B — Owen (F); HR — Defazio (F), 1st inn., 1 on. RBI — Defazio 2, Brett Geren (SRV), Love (SRV), Massoni (SRV). 

————————————————————