BASEBALL: Santa Cruz Blanked in CCS Title Game

The Santa Cruz High baseball team--winners of six straight games--Cinderella run finally came to an end in the 2011 Central Coast Section Division III Baseball Championship Game Saturday afternoon at San Jose Municipal Stadium in San Jose.

Backed by a stingy effort from starting pitcher Freddy Avis, Menlo School-Atherton blanked Santa Cruz 4-0 to secure it’s second straight CCS D-III Baseball title.

Avis struck out five Cardinals in 5.2 innings of work before handing over the ball to reliever Jake Bruml to close out the contest.

Santa Cruz loaded the bases in the seventh inning down four runs, but was unable to get the key base hit to put a dent on the scoreboard.

Avis struck out 17 Scotts Valley hitters in a first round Menlo win. He earned a second ‘W’ over a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League opponent in Saturday’s finale.

“He (Avis) has good velocity with his fastball,” Santa Cruz head coach Matt Elliot said. “He did a good job of hitting his spots. We were able to play the ball in play, but didn’t square many balls up.”

Ahead 1-0 early, Menlo stranded eight runners through four innings of play. Santa Cruz starting pitcher Collin Ferguson grinded through any rough spots early and went the distance in his final start of his high school career.

“When Collin is on the mound, he’s always going to compete and give us a chance to win the game,” Elliot said. “We’re going to lose five starters in this class. I’m just so proud of the guys. They reached deep down inside and knew they had to keep winning if they wanted to keep playing.”

The Knights added one run in the fifth and two more tallies in the sixth. With two away in the seventh, the Cardinals didn’t go away quietly.

Senior Ryan Roubal singled to center field then Ryan Dong and Etai Levy-Richards followed with walks to load the bases.  However, the rally ended after a high chopper to third was corralled by the Menlo third baseman who promptly tagged Dong for the final out of the game.

After a 2-0 loss to San Lorenzo Valley on May 3 that dropped the Santa Cruz record to 9-15 overall, many buried the 2011 season for the Cardinals.

Instead, they won their final three games to qualify for the playoffs.

Santa Cruz won three more in the playoffs, scoring 24 runs during the torrid stretch. Santa Cruz seniors Torin Foss, Sam Zahler, Dylan Mori, Roubal, Connor Millslagle, Dominic Elkin, Derick Delucchi, Ferguson, Zach Seftel, Bryan Adams and Pearce Hutchins-Fuhr all suited up for the final time for the Cardinals on Saturday.

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Menlo 4, Santa Cruz 0

S- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 0 4 4

M-0 1 0 0 1 2 0 – 4 5 1

WP: Avis LP: Ferguson