Eric Anthony tossed a complete-game shutout and Zeke Adderley provided five RBIs to power Santa Barbara High baseball to a 7-0 win over Dos Pueblos on Tuesday at Eddie Mathews Field.
With the win, the Dons (7-2, 4-1 CL) remain tied atop the Channel League with Ventura while the Chargers (4-6-1, 1-3-1 CL) are now only ahead of Buena in the standings.
“We played a clean game, Eric pitched really well and the bats’ situational hitting was great. I’ve got nothing to complain about,” Santa Barbara coach Steve Schuck said.
Before the first pitch, the Dons program honored longtime local coach Fred Warrecker, who passed away in June of last year.
Warrecker served as the head coach at Santa Barbara High for 43 years, winning 13 Channel League championships and reaching the CIF playoffs 22 times.
He is a member of the California Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Santa Barbara Foresters Hall of Fame and the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame.
As for the game itself, Anthony got things started with a 1-2-3 top half of the first, but not before he got some help from his centerfielder Michael Firestone.
Following two quick outs, Dos Pueblos’ Jesse Di Maggio blasted the second pitch he saw into deep center field, and before the ball could sail over the fence, Firestone reached up and stole a homer away from Di Maggio to keep the game scoreless.
“The defense was just amazing today behind me, I couldn’t have done it without them,” Anthony said.
The Dons carried that momentum into the bottom of the first, as Liam Kiethley roped a double off the left-field fence, advanced to third on a wild pitch and Adderley drove him home on an RBI sacrifice fly for the early 1-0 lead.
Anthony and Dos Pueblos’ Derek Brunet got through a scoreless second inning before Santa Barbara High struck again in the bottom of the third.
In the third, the Dons loaded the bases thanks to a pair of free passes and an infield single by Kiethley, setting up Adderley with yet another RBI opportunity.
It ended up being the same result, as Adderley drove a ball into the outfield to bring home Kai Mault on an RBI sacrifice fly, doubling the lead up to 2-0.
“Zeke was amazing,” Schuck said. “We have an execution round in batting practice, and they’re probably sick and tired of me barking at them about executing, but look how big it is, if we need a fly ball, look for a pitch up that we can get in the air.”
Anthony continued to cruise for the Dons, as he did not allow a hit in his first four innings of work.
However, he ran into some trouble in the fifth as Alexander Hajda got the Chargers into the hit column with an out and after a series of walks, Dos Pueblos had the bases loaded with two outs.
With the go-ahead run on first base, Anthony buckled down and got the batter to roll over to shortstop to get out of the jam and preserve the 2-0 lead.
“He sailed through four, and I’m kind of glad he hit a little bump in the fifth to show him ‘you have what it takes, you have to believe in yourself like we believe in you,’’” Schuck said. “That’s Eric right there, now when he goes out again that’s his standard.”
“When I was in the jam, I just needed to trust the fastball and breathe and it was all good,” Anthony said.
Dos Pueblos coach George Hedricks saw the fifth inning as a crucial one in the story of the game.
“I thought our hitters did okay, they could have made adjustments sooner,” Hedricks said. “We had him in trouble a little bit but we let him off the ropes and he responded well.
“You can’t do that offensively, when a guy is struggling or hits a wall in the middle of the game like that you have to get the big hit and make him pay.”
The Dons parlayed Anthony’s big inning into a big inning for the offense in the bottom half, as Mault doubled, Kiethley was hit by a pitch and Jetner Welch laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases with no outs.
“Last year, Jetner would have moped and sulked if I gave him that bunt (sign), but now he’s not a freshman anymore and he realizes that this is about the team, beautiful bunt by him,” Schuck said.
Adderley stepped up to the plate and came through once again, driving a two-run double to right field, which doubled the advantage once again, this time to 4-0.
Firestone then followed up Adderley with a ground ball that bounced over Di Maggio’s head at third base to score another run.
Despite another batter being hit by a pitch, the Dons’ lead stayed at 5-0 heading into the sixth inning.
“I think our pitchers put us in a hole with nine free passes, it’s hard to win while giving up nine free passes,” Hedricks said. “Hits don’t kill you unless you’re giving them those free runners on and we did that, and [Santa Barbara] did their job like they should.”
Following another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, Santa Barbara tacked on two more runs in the bottom half after Tomas Gil scored on a wild pitch and Adderley drove in his fifth and final run on his third RBI sacrifice fly of the day.
Anthony then shut the door on the Chargers, clinching the 7-0 win to open this week’s two-game rivalry series.
“It was awesome, I knew we had the bats and the defense behind me and it really showed today,” Anthony said. “My catcher, Matt, had an amazing game back there, and the bats got me seven runs so I didn’t really have to worry about the little stuff.
“The slider and fastball were just really working today.”
The junior righthander ended the day with just three hits allowed and four strikeouts across his seven scoreless innings of work.
“That’s what we wanted to see (from Anthony),” Schuck said. “We knew that was in there, but he needed to know that it was in there.”
Adderley led the offensive attack with his five RBI while Keithley went 2-for-2 with three runs scored on the day.
The Chargers and Dons will be back at it for a rematch on Friday at Scott O’Leary Field at 3:30 p.m.
“We’re going to enjoy this today and tonight and be ready to go on Friday,” Schuck said. “They’re not going to lay down, no way, George won’t let him. That’s too good of a team.”
“I’m glad we have a few days to recoup and work hard at practice and hopefully have a better showing on Friday,” Hedricks said. “I’m glad we’re back at home, I think we’ll be a confident group if we can get a good two days (of practice).”
