San Marcos baseball dominated all facets of the game and earned a strong 7-0 win over Dos Pueblos on Tuesday at Scott O’Leary Field.
The Royals (2-6, 1-2 Channel League) bounced back in a major way after a pair of losses last week to begin league play and draw even with the Chargers (4-5, 1-2 Channel League).
The San Marcos pitching tandem of Ethan Stokhaug and Alexi Stegner hurled a combined one-hitter in the rivalry matchup, striking out 10 batters and allowing four baserunners.
“They work really hard for it and I’m glad they got to see some success today,” San Marcos coach Wes Ghan-Gibson said of his team. “They came with an edge today to be the aggressor, to execute when called upon and that’s what happens when you find some barrels.”
Following a quiet first inning where Dos Pueblos’ Derek Brunet and Stokhaug held the opposition scoreless, the Royals threatened in the second.
After a base hit by Jaxx Satterfield and back-to-back errors in the outfield, San Marcos had the bases loaded with one out. However, Brunet buckled down and struck out the next two batters to keep the game at 0-0.
“Derek had to pitch and work a little harder because of [the errors] and maybe that affected him late in those innings,” Dos Pueblos coach George Hedricks said. “I thought he grinded, I thought he was very good today.
“That’s not the best he’s been but he certainly had a good start and he threw strikes and gave us a chance to win.”
Stokhaug got through another scoreless frame before the Royals broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third.
Following a pair of hit batters and a bunt single by Erik Perez, Satterfield drove home Steven Bradley on an RBI sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead.
Now with the lead, San Marcos turned to Stegner on the mound and he was lights out, opening his outing with a 1-2-3 inning to maintain momentum.
“[Stegner] was itching those two innings that he wasn’t in there, ready to go in there,” Ghan-Gibson said. “It shows his competitive nature, he wasn’t perfect by any means but he works really hard and was able to seize the moment by just believing in himself.
“I thought we played decent catch behind him and gave him some confidence.”
That momentum carried over to the top of the fourth, where the Royals blew the game open.
Kieran Babai and Patrick Foster singled and executed a double steal to set up runners on second and third with one out in the inning.
From there, the San Marcos offense exploded. Nate Jones roped an RBI single, Bradley scorched a run-scoring double and Mason Crang put the cherry on top with a two-run double to right center field to balloon the lead to 5-0.
“They were able to be tough today,” Ghan-Gibson said of his offense. “They’re the same kids that have worked their butts off all fall, all winter.”
The rest of the game was highlighted by the pitching dominance of Stegner, who picked up the win after hurling five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out seven Chargers.
“Today it was all about the fastball command, that was where I started and if I needed to, maybe go off to the curveball,” Stegner said. “I think fastball command was really where I shined today.
“Once we started putting up some runs it boosted my confidence, I think the team did a great job at getting some runs.”
The final two runs of the game came in the top of the sixth, both of which were unearned. Crang roped his second RBI double of the day while Perez lined an RBI single to right field to bring the score to 7-0.
“We didn’t play great defense from the start of the game,” Hedricks said. “There’s no excuses, this is our park, we know how the sun plays, we know how the wind plays.
“They hit the ball hard today, they had some really good hits to the gap that nobody was getting to, so I can’t take anything away from their effort at the plate. They made those mistakes hurt, which is what you have to do when you’re a good team and that’s a good team over there.”
The Chargers threatened to get on the scoreboard in the seventh, picking up their first hit of the day courtesy of Charlie Potter and loading the bases. However, Stegner struck out the side to preserve the shutout and clinch the win.
“I’m excited that at the end we had a little bit of a spark out of our team,” Hedricks said. “Carter Low was able to get on the mound and give us a shutout inning that gave us some momentum at the plate… Unfortunately, it was too late in the game, you can’t do that. You can’t wait seven innings to wake up.
“We took too many strikes today, for whatever reason we just weren’t ready to hit. That’s my fault as a coach, I didn’t have them ready to go and I’ll wear that.”
Crang led the San Marcos offense after going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI while Bradley scored a pair of runs to go along with his RBI double.
The Royals and Chargers will turn around and face off again on Friday in their final matchup of the season.
“I think Friday is going to be the toughest game of the year for us and it’s going to be a battle, just like it should be,” Ghan-Gibson said. “It’s going to come down to something big, it always does with us and DP and I’m really proud to be a part of this, the team to be a part of this and the community.”
“I’m happy with how we finished the game with a little spark and hopefully we can take that into Friday,” Hedricks said. “We’re all going to be anxiously awaiting Friday to have another opportunity to go play another good baseball game.”
