In a game dominated by pitching, Santa Barbara High and San Marcos were locked in 1-1 tie when the Channel League baseball opener at Eddie Mathews Field was stopped on account of darkness after seven innings.
Santa Barbara (5-1-1) was in position to win the game in the bottom of the seventh as Bryce Warrecker and Anthony Firestone were on second and third base with no outs. But San Marcos sophomore lefty Chase Hoover rose to the occasion and struck out the next three Dons before the umpires called the game.
Hoover struck out 10, gave up four hits and walked two in four innings of relief of starter Henry Manfredonia.
“I was working high fastballs,” Hoover said of his approach of escaping the jam in the seventh. “I knew they had been chasing (that pitch) all game. I just wanted to work on that and then (finish off) with the curveball.”
While his team didn’t win, San Marcos coach Jacob Pepper was pleased how it responded in a pressure situation.
“I can’t be more proud of our guys to come into a pretty hostile environment with a bunch of sophomores who haven’t played on this kind of stage before,” Pepper said. “We knew our pitching was tough and we can play some defense. We didn’t come up with that many hits today but …(we) kept the pressure on (Santa Barbara).”
Santa Barbara coach Steve Schuck was disappointed his team couldn’t finish with a victory.
“It seemed like a win for (the Royals) and a loss for us,” he said. “We let the situation, the at bat, the pitch get too big for us. Everybody tried to get the big hit instead of taking a hard hit ball and moving on.”
Santa Barbara starter Carter Park allowed one run, five hits, two walks and struck out six through six innings.
The Dons gave Carter a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a doubles by Ty Montgomery and Owen Keithley.
San Marcos (4-3-1) tied it in the fifth. With one out, Alex Moosebrugger, Joaquin Sandoval and Aiden Johnson slugged back-to-back-to-back singles. Manfredonia was hit by pitch to bring home Moosebrugger.
Santa Barbara avoided further damage when Carter induced a double-play grounder to Jordan Harris at third. Harris fired to Firestone at second and Firestone threw to Warrecker at first to end the inning.
“We pitched and played defense as good as you can. It was the (15) strikeouts that killed us,” said Santa Barbara shortstop Nick Oakley.
Santa Barbara standed 11 runners on base and San Marcos left seven.
“San Marcos has two really good pitchers,” said Schuck. “We chased and got out of our approach. If we hit the way we’ve been hitting all year, then it’s no big deal.”