Luke Coffey returns to the Dos Pueblos dugout after scoring the game-winning run in the eighth inning.
For those that left Tuesday’s Channel League game between Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara early, hearing the final score was a big surprise.
Dos Pueblos scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning and two more in the eighth to steal Tuesday’s Channel League opener from Santa Barbara High in a 9-7 extra-inning decision at Eddie Mathews Field.
Santa Barbara took a 7-0 lead in the first three innings but the Chargers mounted a rally that began in the top of the fifth. Down 7-3 going in to the seventh, Dustin Demeter blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence to really get the Chargers going.
“I just got an inside fastball and I turned on it,” Demeter said.
Dustin Demeter cleared the right-center field fence in the seventh inning on Tuesday.
With one out and runners on first and third, Jesse Speier’s liner over the shortstop’s head brought home Daniel Buratto with the game-tying single.
In the eighth, Luke Coffey walked with two out and stole second and third base. Buratto singled him home for in the winning run.
“I was just reacting,” Buratto said, saying it was a curveball after two straight fast balls on his game-winning hit.
Another RBI single by Nick Noggle gave the Chargers a two-run cushion going into the bottom half of the inning.
Santa Barbara starting pitcher Gabe Grandcolas has a wicked pick-off move and catcher Skyler Sabado has an arm. But in the seventh, when Grandcolas tired, he was replaced by Sabado. Dos Pueblos didn’t steal a base with the starting battery but swiped three bases in the final inning.
“We were just going to challenge them,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Nick Katzenstein. “We had nothing to lose and we needed to get into scoring position. If he throws us out, he throws us out.”
The rally started in the top of the fifth inning when Michael Boelter led off with a double. Freshman Chris Noggle promptly singled for his first varsity hit and a balk allowed Boelter to score and Noggle moved to second. Coffey, who was 3-for-5 in the game, drove home Noggle. The older Noggle, Nick, added an RBI single that scored Coffey.
Santa Barbara High’s Tim Stickles tries to find the pitch through the shadows at Eddie Mathews Field.
“We just kept chipping away,” said Demeter. “We got a couple runs here and there and then finally in that last inning we just put up four or whatever it was.”
Santa Barbara scored its runs with five in the first and two more in the third inning. The Dons sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning, with Harry Parker delivering a two-run single on a pop-up that fell just inside the right-field line. Gabe Grandcolas got it started with an RBI single that scored Skyler Sabado, and Tim Stickles forced a run over after getting hit by a pitch.
It was Parker again in the third inning, as the senior lined a two-run double to right-center field to score Stickles and Schroeder.
Parker finished 2-for-4 with four RBI.
“You have to credit DP. They never gave up,” said Dons assistant coach Mike Cooney. “At 7-0 it would have been easy for them to have packed it in and put in a bunch of subs. But they stayed after it, and wore us down.”
The Chargers, with four errors on the day, cleaned up their act after the second inning.
“We just started playing better defense,”Buratto said. “We made a lot of errors in the first two innings. We got back into it and didn’t let it affect us.”
Demeter, a sophomore, Quinn Peacock, another sophomore, and Chris Noggle, a freshman, made up a third of the Dos Pueblos lineup.
“So we’re young and we’re playing good baseball even with our youngsters,” Katzenstein said. “We made some mistakes and they know it, but we’re only gonna get better so I’m proud of those young guys.”
It was Demeter’s second home run of the season.
“His stats may not show it but he tearing the cover off of the ball and they’re finally starting to fall for him,” said Katzenstein.
Dos Pueblos’ winning pitcher Michael Boelter delivers to the plate on Tuesday.
Dos Pueblos’ Michael Boelter took the mound in the sixth inning and pitched three scoreless innings to earn the victory for the Chargers. He retired nine of the 10 batters he faced, including 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth.
“I just have to take my hat off to Michael Boelter, and Josh Knight, they both pitched scoreless innings and that was huge for us,”Katzenstein said.
Both teams play the Ventura schools in their second Channel League game on Friday. The Chargers (3-5, 1-0) travel to Buena while the Dons (5-1, 0-1) will be at Ventura.
LINESCORE
Dos Pueblos 000 030 4(2) – 9 12 4
Santa Barbara 502 000 0(0) – 7 8 1DP – Buratto, Knight (5), Boelter (6), and Noggle. SB – Grandcolas, Sabado (7), and Sabado, and Loza(7). WP – Boelter LP – Sabado. 2B – Buratto, Boelter, Parker, Moropoulos. HR – Demeter (7th inning, one on)
Go DP!!!