Brent Hyman gets the final out on a liner to shortstop and San Marcos celebrates a 3-1 win at Dos Pueblos. Hyman went the distance, allowing 1 unearned run and 4 hits pic.twitter.com/aCAl2ta4a8
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San Marcos pitcher Brent Hyman stepped up in a rivalry game against Dos Pueblos and delivered a complete-game 3-1 victory in Channel League baseball action Friday at Scott O’Leary Field.
Hyman gave up four hits and allowed an unearned run in the first inning. He struck out three, walked three, and got some big plays from his defense.
“He wanted the ball a week ago,” San Marcos coach Jacob Pepper said of Hyman’s eagerness to pitch against the Chargers. “We knew he’d be ready. He did not disappoint, that’s for sure.”
Hyman pitched out of jams in the first, third and sixth innings.
DP put two runners on in the sixth, which prompted San Marcos assistant Tony Sandoval to make a visit to the mound.
Pepper said Hyman “was around 100 pitches, and our sophomore Henry Manfredonia, who we trust a ton, was ready to go. But we saw that look in his eye… ‘he’s going to get this done.’”
Hyman got pinch-hitter Connor Gleissner to hit a grounder into the hole at second base that Diego Sandoval fielded and threw out the runner at first.
“He made a hell of play at second base,” Pepper said of Sandoval. “That play at second to save a run was pretty tremendous. Those are things you have to do to win games.”
Hyman then induced pinch hitter Udy Loza to pop out to catcher Logan Ring for the third out.
In the seventh, he gave up a lead-off single to pinch hitter Nate Jordan before getting Luke Roberts to line out to shortstop Jacob Galindo, who fired to first base to double-up pinch-runner Chris Alvarado.
David Leon lined out to Galindo to end the game.
“Great to see him pitch that well and want the ball all the way through the game,” Pepper said of Hyman
“I’ve been playing against some of these guys from DP for 10-11 years,” Hyman said. “These are my guys and I need to shove it right now. This is what I need to do. I did that and everything worked out pretty well for me.”
Retiring the Chargers without allowing a run in the sixth fired him up.
“When I came to the dugout after the sixth inning, they asked, ‘How you feeling?’ I was like, ‘I feel great. This is my game.’
“Even before the game I said, ‘This is my game. I can guarantee you a win.’ That’s everything that happened.”
Pepper said Hyman had a 3-1 lead at DP last season before the game got away from him.
“I think he remembered that and that taste was pretty sour in his mouth. I think he had that in his thoughts when he came out here again,” said Pepper.
Dos Pueblos coach George Hedricks said Hyman kept his hitters off balance with fastballs and curves.
“I think our guys were a little off balance at the plate and didn’t make adjustments soon enough,” he said. “We weren’t as disciplined as we should have been. We tried to do too much. Too many guys were trying to do too much instead of slowing the game down.”
San Marcos took advantage of early control problems from DP starter Nico Martinez and scored a run in the first inning. Logan Ring singled to right with one out, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.
Dos Pueblos answered in the bottom of the first. Mason Boelter reached first on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on a throwing error on Martinez’s grounder to shortstop and scored on a single by Evan Steinberger.
Steinberger was 3 for 3.
“He was definitely a bright spot for us,” said Hedricks.
San Marcos scored the decisive runs in the second inning. Galindo and Joaquin Sandoval, the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup, opened the inning with singles. Diego Sandoval hit a bouncer over the third baseman’s shoulder for a double that scored Galindo for a 2-1 lead. Joaquin Sandoval scored the third run on Ring’s grounder into the hole at shortstop that was backhanded by Boelter, who made the out at first base.
With a runner on, Roberts tried to make something happen for DP in the second by laying a bunt down on the third-base side of the mound.
Hyman bounced off the mound to field the bunt and fired to first base.
“I said, ‘I got to go get this,’” Hyman said of fielding the bunt. “I just picked it up and threw it. I didn’t know where it was going. Luckily, it went right to (first baseman Isaac Villarreal), right? I was pretty stoked about that. I think that’s when I felt, ‘This game is going good.’”
Hedrick gave kudos to the Royals: “They played a good game and they beat us today.”
San Marcos is 5-3 and 2-1 in Channel League while Dos Pueblos is 5-3-1 and 2-1.