Baseball Plays Season in Honor of Teammate

By: Justin Blackwood

The Mats opened the baseball season in glorious fashion as they outlasted the Panthers of St. Mary's High School, Berkeley by a score of 5-4. The game was in doubt up until the Mats final turn at bat. With the score tied at 4-4 all the Mats knew they needed a run in order to capture the win. The Mats came through in the bottom of the 7th and scored a run to win the game in an exciting manner.

In their next game the Matadors bats came out smoking. Holding a 3-0 lead over American in the bottom of the 4th the Mats exploded so score seven unanswered runs between the 4th and 5th innings to get the slaughter rule victory over their opponents. The winning pitcher for the Mats was junior Greg Chapman who had a strong outing backed by great run support. Chapman went the distance for the Mats and allowed zero runs.

The next task the Matadors were up against was that of perennial power De La Salle. De La Salle came into the game ranked 6th in the country but the Mats were more then prepared to step up to the challenge before them. Senior pitcher Mike Lacross pitched a gem for the Matadors as he allowed zero runs through six full innings. However, in the top of the 7th the potent De La Salle lineup, lead by Stanford bound Chris Carter, finally got to Lacross. Through clutch hitting the Spartans put up two runs in the top of the 7th and the pressure was now on the Matadors hitters. However, the De La Salle pitching stayed strong the entire game and the 7th was no different as the Mats were shut out and lost their first game of the season by a score of 2-0.

The Mats opened the league season against cross-town rival and defending NCS champion Campolindo. This was once a pitching duel as Matador Coach Vince Dell' Aquila put his ace, Lacross, back on the mound. Lacross did not disappoint as he held the Cougars scoreless for six innings before being pulled in the bottom of the 7th. In the 7th with two men on Haley Winter was put on the mound to replace Lacross. After an intentional walk the bases were loaded with 1 out of Cougars batter Corbin Sheilds. With the infield in Winter got Shields to hit a dribbler up the third base side however the Mats could not cleanly field the ball and the Cougars runner scored from third to secure a 1-0 victory.

Although the Mats have slowed down after their 2-0 start, there is no question that the Matadors will make a push in the league standings as they fight for an NCS birth.