Santa Barbara High’s Jack Paskin came through with a go-ahead single in the top of the eighth, and Max Weddle worked his way out of a jam in the bottom half to give the Dons a 4-3 extra-inning rivalry win over San Marcos on Tuesday at Joe Mueller Field.
This result, coupled with Dos Pueblos’ win over Oxnard on Tuesday, intensifies the final day of Channel League play on Friday. San Marcos (15-11, 9-4 CL) and Dos Pueblos (17-10, 9-4 CL) are now tied atop the league standings with one league game to play.
The Dons (11-13, 5-8 CL), meanwhile, are fighting for an at-large bid into the playoffs with four games left on the schedule.
“This is the most fight I’ve seen all year,” Santa Barbara High head coach Steve Schuck said. “It’s taken a while to get the message through, but they showed some grit. They showed some relentlessness. They showed some toughness today that we haven’t seen all year.
“So, is this the beginning of something, going forward? Hopefully.”
After a tense back-and-forth first seven innings left the game locked at 3-3, the latest installment of the Dons-Royals rivalry was sent into extras.
Santa Barbara put together a two-out rally in the top of the seventh as Chad Menchaca singled to advance James King, who walked earlier, to second base. Jack Paskin then came through with a single up the middle to take a 4-3 lead.
“It’s just clutch,” Schuck said of his eighth-inning offense. “They’ve got to get used to pressure situations, and we put them in those pressure situations in practice. It just hasn’t translated, and today, it translated.”
The Dons tried to push across another run with some confusion, as Paskin attempted to draw a throw over to first with an extended secondary. However, SM pitcher Miles Herbert pump-faked to first and threw home, where Menchaca collided with catcher Levi Monson, who held on for the out.
The collision prompted both benches to clear as tensions came to a head between the bitter rivals. One player was ejected, but the two sides cooled and the game was sent to the bottom of the eighth.
“You look forward to this baseball, look forward to these games, and the emotion, and that makes all the work worthwhile,” San Marcos head coach Richard Schroeder said of the fiery nature of the game.
Monson and Quinn Melton led off the frame with back-to-back singles, but Weddle then got a key out at third base on a fielder’s choice from shortstop Brandon Weaver to third baseman Milo Winkler.
The next batter then floated a line drive to first base, where Paskin caught the ball and doubled up the runner on first to give his team the win and send the Dons’ dugout into a frenzy.
The Royals struck first with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the second, as Landon Johnson blasted a towering solo homer over the right-field wall for the 1-0 lead.
Later in the frame, David Burkholder helped himself out at the plate with an RBI double to score Grant Hoover and double the lead to 2-0 heading into the third.
After an uneventful third inning, the Dons threatened in the fourth by working back-to-back one-out walks. However, Burkholder buckled down and got a flyout and a strikeout looking to leave the runners stranded.
Ramirez got through a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth, and the Santa Barbara offense finally broke through in the fifth. After loading the bases, Max Weddle dribbled a ball to first base, and Johnson got the out at first, but Derek Jaye came in to score and cut the deficit in half to 2-1. Burkholder was then relieved by Herbert.
In the next at-bat, a pitch snuck to the backstop, and Brandon Waver came in to score from third to even the game. Milo Winckler then came through with an RBI sacrifice fly to score Jetner Welch and take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
“That’s all we that’s all we preach, is grit. Just be relentless,” Schuck said of the fifth inning. “Will yourself to put the ball in play, and they did it. They just passed it to the next guy and that’s the way you gotta win these games, especially rival games.
“You just got to grit your teeth. You may not like the taste of it, but you gotta do it.”
The one-run score remained heading into the bottom of the sixth, when the first two Royals were retired before Mason Crang drew a two-out walk and Tosh Whitworth was called on to replace Ramirez.
Johnson was then walked, and Herbert was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A pitch then soared to the backstop, and Crang came diving in for the game-tying run. Whitworth finished off the at-bat with a strikeout to strand a pair and keep the score at 3-3.
A scoreless seventh inning then set the table for the extra-inning rivalry drama.
“We did some good things, and then we didn’t get it done. We had an opportunity, and we didn’t get it done,” Schroeder said of the loss.
“To have ourselves in this position is a blessing and an honor, and we just have to take advantage of it on Friday. We still have that opportunity, and with all the work we put in, we just need to stay within ourselves, like we tried to do all year long.”
“Stay within ourselves, take a pitch at a time and just play catch on the field. It is not harder than that.”
The two teams will clash again on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Eddie Mathews Field in what should be an action-packed rematch.