Carpinteria’s Colton Rubio took the mound to stop Magnolia on Tuesday, which was basically like trying to slow down a freight train.
The Sentinels came to Carpinteria for their CIF wild-card matchup having scored 78 runs in their last eight games, including 38 in the previous three contests alone.
The Warriors’ sophomore ace, benefiting from sound defense behind him, turned the tide and helped Carpinteria record a 5-1 victory to advance to Friday’s first round.
Carpinteria's Zach Boberg leaps over Magnolia's Gerardo Adame after turning a successful double play.
[nggallery id=35]In the biggest game of his young career, Rubio turned in a complete-game performance while limiting the Sentinels to a single run in seven innings.
“He’s got the just the right makeup for this kind of day,” described Warriors head coach Pat Cooney. “He’s not going to get caught up in the CIF moment. He wasn’t worried about the weather. His feet were getting muddy and that didn’t bother him. He’s just gonna kinda peck away.”
The Warrior defense shut down several potential run-scoring innings for Magnolia by turning three double plays late in the game. The Sentinels’ leadoff batter reached base in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings but was quickly erased by the momentum killing double play.
Carpinteria took control of the game in the bottom of the second with three runs, capped off by an RBI-double from Diego Carrillo that was almost caught by Sentinels center fielder Giovanni Perez. Zach Boberg and Trevor Madden preceded Carrillo with RBIs in the previous two at-bats.
Victor Garcia then blooped a two-run single into shallow left field in the fifth inning that gave the Warriors their 5-1 advantage.
“We just wanted to put the bat on the ball,” said Robert Thornton, who scored on Garcia’s hit after a double of his own.
The extra two runs were huge for the Warriors and extra painful for the Sentinels, who were on the wrong end of an interference ruling by the umpire. Jose Carrillo was tagged out at third base moving over on Thornton’s double but after a meeting between the home plate and second base umpires, Carrillo was ruled safe at third because he was interfered with while rounding second base.
The Magnolia dugout let its dislike of the call be known. Instead of two outs and a runner on second it was runners on second and third with only one out.
“It was big. I believe they got the call right,” Cooney said. “There was a little confusion on the play but it seemed like they got together and got the call right in that case.”
Magnolia scored its run in the third inning, which started with a double by Kevin Ramirez. Two wild pitches later, Ramirez was home to cut the lead to 3-1. The Sentinels were on the Warriors’ heels, putting the leadoff runner on in the next two innings before the double plays killed off any rallies.
The Sentinels hit the ball hard several times to no avail, with Daniel Miranda and Gerardo Adame hitting drives to the fences that were hauled in by the Warriors.
“My curveball and changeup wasn’t working at all,” Rubio said, crediting his four-seam fastball with being his most-effective pitch.
Magnolia, the third-place team from the Orange League, finishes its season with a 14-13-1 record.
Carpinteria’s next opponent is Pioneer League champion El Segundo (21-9). First pitch for Friday’s game in Los Angeles is 3:15 p.m.
CARPINTERIA 5, MAGNOLIA 1
Magnolia 001 000 0 – 1 7 0
Carpinteria 030 020 x – 5 8 0
M – Padlow, Muniz(6), and Ortega. C – Rubio, and DCarrillo. 2b – DCarrillo, Thornton, KRamirez.
