JD Yonke picked up his second victory of the season for Bishop Diego. (Presidio Sports Photos)
JD Yonke’s complete-game effort on Wednesday stifled Carpinteria’s baseball team in a 11-1 non-league win for Bishop Diego.
In what will be the only game between the two crosstown rivals this season. the Cardinals (4-2) showed the most urgency to get a victory ahead of starting league play on Friday against Santa Clara.
Warriors first baseman Derrick Moore makes the catch just before Cardinals shortstop Sam Kwock arrives.
The Warriors (2-3) don’t begin league play until next week.
“This was the last game before league play so it’s huge for us to keep on the high and just keep going,” Yonke said.
The senior right-hander scattered four hits over seven innings and struck out three. He also benefited from two double plays by his defense.
“Same approach as always,” Yonke said. “It’s a rivalry game. You just have to stay calm, stay with the game plan.”
The Cardinals scored three in the second and two in the third. Up 5-0, Bishop scored five more runs on only two hits. The Warriors helped the Cardinals with two walks, a hit batter and two errors. Yonkey walked in a run, Sam Kwock’s infield single plated another, Reese Moulton scored on a throwing error, followed by Jack Gregson’s line drive to left field that scored two more.
“Bishop does a nice job of applying pressure with their team speed,” explained Warriors head coach Pat Cooney. “So even though we’re aware of it, and we’re defending against it, our guys tried a few things, you know, took a few risks that maybe we wouldn’t take in a normal setting.
“But here we are non-league. We need to try our pick-offs, we need to try different 1st-3rd plays, we need to try those different things. They didn’t work out well for us but we tried them.”
The Warriors picked up their run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Derrick Moore. The throw to home allowed Moore to take second base and Carpinteria had runners on second and third base with no outs. Yonke and the Cardinals got out of the jam by turning a double-play on the next play, but they lost catcher John Salda in the process after a collision at home plate.
Salda applied the tag for an out as Alifonso Delgado charged home after tagging on a flyball. Delgado’s shoulder connected with Salda’s head and he collapsed after taking a few uneasy steps towards the mound. After a few minutes on the ground, Salda walked slowly back to the Cardinal dugout where he remained for the rest of the game.
The Warriors used four pitchers on Wednesday – Colton Rubio, Alifonso Delgado, Marcus Hutchinson and Diego Martinez in that order.
Carpinteria (2-3) faces Dunn in its next game and doesn’t start its Tri-Valley League season until next Wednesday.
