Dylan Rohde enthusiastically greets teammate Ben York at the plate following Nolan Soto’s three-run double.
Dos Pueblos scored all six of its runs in the seventh inning on Friday as the Chargers came from behind to beat San Marcos 6-2 in a Channel?League game.
Down 2-0 in the final inning, Dos Pueblos strung together seven straight walks or hits after committing the first out. Brian Cho tied the game with an RBI single, Ben York followed with an RBI single that scored the go-ahead run, and Nolan Soto came through a bases-loaded double?that scored three more runs.
In his first start of the season, Soto finished 4-for-4.
“It was just a lot of fun to finally be back out here today,” Soto said. “I just focused on having fun because I missed it so much.”
Entering the seventh inning, Dos Pueblos had managed just three hits through six innings, all by Soto.
James Savage started the rally by drawing a one-out walk. Anthony Spiritosanto then lined a single to left field for DP’s first hit by someone other than Soto. After a pitching change, freshman Dustin Demeter lifted a slicing single to left field that scored Savage from second base for the Chargers’ first run of the game.
Luke Coffey kept the pressure on in the next at-bat, walking to load the bases. Up came Cho, who had beaten San Marcos two days earlier with a walk-off hit. This time Cho tied the game with an RBI single and York drove home pinch-runner Brody Curtis for the go-ahead run, while setting the table for Soto.
“We just knew that if we got a couple runners on, got some momentum, that we could put it together,” Soto said.
Soto is 5-for-5 for the season with four RBIs and a slugging percentage of 1.400.
Dos Pueblos remains alone in first place with a 6-1 league record. San Marcos, the one team to beat DP in league this year, falls to 1-6.
The Royals feel like they should have won both games this week and swept DP in the process. San Marcos had bonafide chances to win both.
“We’re struggling to hit the ball,” said Royals assistant Tommy Lansdon. “We found a way to push a couple across, but if we could have pushed one or two more it would have made a difference.”
San Marcos starter Sean Nakano-West shut down the Chargers through four innings. In the fifth, Nakano-West handed the ball to Wes Ghan-Gibson with one out and the bases loaded.
Ghan-Gibson quickly got two outs and kept the game scoreless.
The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth and scored again in the bottom of the fifth.
Daniel Dzierski kept San Marcos’ shutout intact through six innings with a diving catch in right field and throw to second base for a double play to end the inning.
Gabe Speier started for Dos Pueblos and struck out six batters in 4 1/3 innings.
“I wish we could have done it earlier but it’s much more exciting to get it done in the last inning,” Speier said. “And I’m really proud of my team for sticking in there. We could have easily just given up and let that game slide away.”
Josh Tedeschi relieved Speier and was the pitcher of record when the Chargers mounted their comeback. Daniel Buratto pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
BOX SCORE
DP 000 000 6 – 6 8 1
SM 000 110 0 – 2 5 0DP – Speier, Tedeschi (5), Buratto (7), and Coffey. SM – Nakano-West, Ghan-Gibson (4), Rodriguez (7), and MacDuffee. WP – Tedeschi LP – Rodriguez.
2B – Soto 2, Ghan-Gibson
