Dos Pueblos sophomore Darby Naughton earned his second Channel League victory on Monday.
San Marcos held Dos Pueblos to one hit in Monday’s Channel League game at Joe Mueller Field. The Chargers made it count, however, plating the run they needed in a 1-0 decision.
Quinn Peacock knocked a single into right field in the first inning and scored after a walk and two wild pitches moved him around the bases.
Dos Pueblos’ sophomore starting pitcher Darby Naughton took the mound with a 1-0 lead and made it stick with six shutout innings before Austin Bull pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh for the save. Naughton struck out six and gave up four hits.
“He was throwing all his pitches for strikes and he was keeping it at the knees,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Nick Katzenstein.
Naughton has been on the mound for both of Dos Pueblos’ two league wins.
“He’s kind of becoming our guy,” Katzenstein said.
Naughton, who said his fastball was working well, thanked his teammates for starting out with a 1-0 lead.
“We had struggled to get a lead early,” said Naughton. “We got a run in the first inning and that was great to just get on the board and go into the rest of the game with some confidence, so that was big.”
The Royals had runners in scoring position in the fourth and seventh innings but couldn’t scratch a run across.
Like Dos Pueblos, San Marcos trotted out its own sophomore starting pitcher in Ian Churchill. After the first inning shakiness, Churchill settled down over his next three innings. He allowed one hit and one earned run in four innings.
“For him, he’s a young guy. He has to learn that prior to the game he has to get locked in and not the first, second inning,” said Royals head coach Jacob Pepper. “He’s young, we give him some flexibility with that because we know he’s going to be a stud in the long run.”
Austin Ricci came on in the fifth and pitched three scoreless innings. The Chargers loaded the bases in the top of the seventh without a hit but Ricci induced a foul out to end the inning.
Despite not getting hits, the Chargers were able to produce base runners. Eli Roberts reached base three times on two walks and a HBP. They left eight runners on base compared to San Marcos’ five.
Nolan Cope, Louie Shalhoob, Blake Katsev and Mason Metcalfe recorded hits for San Marcos. Katsev launched a double to deep left center field in the fourth inning with one out but got caught in an inning-ending double play on a hard-hit ball to right field by Metcalfe.
San Marcos’ Blake Katsev hit Monday’s only extra-base hit.
“It is tough to lose those games when you play well,” Pepper said.
It was another one-run game for Dos Pueblos. The Chargers (4-7) have had seven of their 11 games decided by a single run. After losing the first three, DP has won the past four.
Dos Pueblos improves to 2-2 in the league standings while San Marcos falls to 0-3.
The Royals play again in less than 24 hours in Tucson, Arizona. San Marcos boards a bus at 4:30 a.m. and has a game scheduled for 5 p.m. against Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman. It’s a stiff test for the Royals as Bishop Gorman is ranked No. 11 in the country in MaxPreps’ latest Xcellent Top-25.
Dos Pueblos hosts Northglenn on Thursday in its next game.
LINESCORE
DP 100 000 0 – 1 1 0
SM 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
2B – SM, Katsev.
WP – Naughton. LP – Churchill
