It was ugly at the start for the San Marcos baseball team Saturday, but the Royals kept swinging and managed to split their doubleheader at Cabrillo, absorbing a 14-7 loss before coming back for a 6-5 win.
“It’s always good to win the seocnd game, because at least you leave on a higher note… Although that last inning was pretty scary,” said coach Rob Crawford.
The Conquistadores had the tying run at third base in the second game before the Royals closed it out. Reliever Shane Wieland had struck out four batters in the sixth inning (one of the strikeouts ended in a passed ball with the runner advancing to first). But in the seventh, it went single, strikeout, single, single, pop-up and double as the Conqs scored three runs.
The runner at second stole third and the next batter slapped one to the shortstop, but Nick Stathopolous made a miracle stretch at first base to get the last out.
The story of the game, however, was Lino Reveles. Depleted at the catcher position due to injury and illness, Crawford walked over to the JV field in between games and pulled up Reveles, who isn’t even the starting catcher for the JV squad.
“He was excited. I knew he would battle and he’s a great athlete. He even threw out the first runner that tried to steal on him,” said Crawford.
The first game was a struggle from the start, as the Conqs scored six runs in the first. San Marcos brought things back to within two at 7-5 in the top of the fourth, but Cabrillo scored six more in the bottom of the inning to put it away.
“My guys kept swinging the bats and didn’t give up, which was good,” said Crawford.
CABRILLO 14, SAN MARCOS 7
San Marcos…201 202 0 — 7 11 3
Carpinteria….610 601 X — 14 16 2
SM — Stathopoulos, Acevedo (4), Caeser (6) and Behlman and Price (4). C — White, Engles (7) and Mertz. LP — Stathopoulos (o-2).
2B — SM: Boneck (2), Cavalier. C: Mertz, Lopez. HR — Fratz (4th, two on).
SAN MARCOS 6, CABRILLO 5
San Marcos…000 015 0 — 6 7 3
Carpinteria….100 100 3 — 5 8 4
SM — Gostow, Wieland (5) and Reveles. C —Ellenbro.
