Patrick Soulages doesn’t get to do his job much when Danny Zandona is on the mound for the Santa Barbara High baseball team. He’s the Dons’ bullpen catcher, and the bullpen has been rather irrelevant during Zandona’s outings.
The junior righty tossed his eighth complete game of the year (11 starts), battling a lineup of sturdy Grizzlies in Friday’s CIF Division II first-round 7-4 win against visiting Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga. The Dons jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings, and Zandona was business-like on the mound the whole way through. He gave up nine hits while striking out four, allowing three earned runs.
Collin Dewell is congratulated by Cameron Gniadek after scoring a run on a close play at the plate.
“I thought Danny did a good job going [complete game] out there, changing up speeds,” said coach Fred Warrecker. “He really tried to pitch in with the fastball for the most part and then go offspeed… I thought his composure was excellent, and his location was real good for the most part.”
Zandona is averaging just over six innings per start, which would be respectable even in a nine-inning format. He gave up three extra base hits on the day, with two coming off of the bat of Los Osos star catcher Jake Hernandez, who is expected to be a high pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. He’s also been given a full-ride to play at USC.
Hernandez went 3-for-4 with a triple off the fence and a line-drive homer that left a crater in the hill behind the left-field fence.
“That guy’s a beast. I was trying to keep the ball down with him, but he just mashes. There’s nothing I could do,” said Zandona.
But any nerves or shakiness Zandona felt was kept inside. He was poker-faced throughout, even when 6-foot-3, 200-pound Nick Lavallee came up with the bases loaded in the fifth. Lavallee was 2-for-2 at that point, but Zandona calmly induced a come-backer to end the inning.
“I try to just take a deep breath, wipe off the rubber and look at the view (pointing to the mountains). It helps to focus on anything that’s constant, that’s gonna be there the whole game,” he said.
Trey Barrett sent a two-run opposite-field homer towards the mountains with two outs in the first to get the Dons (20-4-1) on the board. It came off of Los Osos starter starter Cody Dill, one of the five hard-throwing hurlers to take the mound for the Grizzlies (17-8). All of them were hit hard by the Dons, who racked up 13 base knocks on the day.
“He was throwing pretty hard, and he’s confident with his fastball so I knew I was gonna get one. I’m a fastball hitter, and I got one over the plate just a little outside and sent it that way,” said Barrett, the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table prep baseball Player of the Year.
Kees t’Sas opened up the second inning by being hit by a pitch, and was one of five Dons who were plunked in the game. Collin Dewell followed with a double, and Robert Crawford drove in t’Sas on a sacrifice fly to put Santa Barbara up 3-0. Jack Crummer opened the third with a single, followed by an RBI double by Joey Gonzales and a Barrett single. Consecutive plays at the plate accounted for the Dons’ first two outs, but Dewell drove in Gonzales on a single to make it 5-0 before the inning ended.
Hernandez’s laser-beam homer led off the top of the fourth, and Zandona also gave up a single in the inning but closed the frame on consecutive strikeouts. Hernandez drove in another run in the top of the fifth to close the gap to 5-2, but Santa Barbara got it right back on a double steal in the bottom half.
Zandona put the Grizzlies down 1-2-3 in the sixth and the Dons loaded the bases in the bottom half as Gonzales was walked in for the hosts’ final run. Los Osos got two back in the seventh but you-know-who stayed cool and shut the door.
The next round will be on Tuesday against either Chaminade or Paso Robles, with the location to be determined. Confidence is not in short supply around Eddie Mathews Field.
“I mean, I think we’re capable of going all the way,” said Zandona. “We’re doing really solid right now. If we keep hitting the ball and keep playing defense, there’s no reason why we can’t.”
SANTA BARBARA 7, LOS OSOS 4
Los Osos…000 110 2 — 4 9 1
Santa Barbara…212 011 x — 7 13 1
Dill, Rogina, Mascucci, Loya, Halstead and Hernandez. Zandona and Eaton.
2B — LO: Ferner, SB: Dewell, Gonzales. 3B — LO: Hernandez. HR — LO: Hernandez (4th inn., solo), SB: Barrett (1st inn., one on).
