5/05: After a their twenty-hit, seventeen-run commanding victory over Justin-Siena, the Varsity Giants lost their final home game of the regular season to Marin Catholic on Senior Day at Moody Field. In their last six meetings the Giants were undefeated against their cross-town rival, until today. With their victory over the Giants, Marin Catholic moved into third place with a 10-5 record, and dropped Redwood into fourth place, sending the Giants into a tie with San Marin with a 10-6 record. Drake also took home a victory, clinching the MCAL round-robin title, squandering the hopes of a three-peat MCAL round-robin Championship for the Giants. Redwood will need to win the MCAL playoffs in order to win their third pennant in a row. “It was a disappointing way to close out the year at our yard, but we still have two on the road next week and a shot at the MCAL Title”, Firenzi said after the game.
Zack Tonnerre took the loss, after giving up a run in the second and was pulled after giving up two runs on a Giants error with no outs in the third. Michael Benz would come in with the bases loaded and after a single and another Giants error, all three that were on base would score. Another run would cross the plate, taking the game to the bottom of the third with the Giants down 6-0. With one out, Trevor Foehr and Nicolas Belgum banged out back-to-back hits, but the inning ended after a pop-out and a fly-out.
MC added on, scoring after another Giants error. The Giants would again commit three errors in the field. With the score 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Aubrey Sine led off the inning with a double to left, lifting the hopes of the Giants faithful that they could cut into the lead, but the Giants went down in order, forcing the Wildcats defense to make plays. The Giants would leave twelve runners on base.
Benz sent the ‘Cats down in order in the top of the fifth but gave up a run in the sixth after yielding three consecutive hits, taking the game to the bottom of the sixth with the Giants down 8-0. Gregory Block worked a walk on eight pitches, and Jackson Barry reached base on a dropped fly ball to right. Genki LeClair would send Block and Barry home after another Wildcat error, but the inning ended despite another hit by Trevor Foehr. Foehr would end the day with three hits in the Giants losing effort.
Foehr came in to pitch the seventh inning and shut the Wildcats down, taking the game to the bottom of the seventh with the Giants down by six runs, 8-2. Anthony Pomilia led off the inning and smoked a ball to center that was dropped, landing him on first. Luke Zlatunich and Aubrey Sine walked, loading the bases with no outs. A strike-out would follow and Jackson Barry would send Pomilia home on a sacrifice fly. With two outs and the score 8-3, the game ended on a ground out to the cheers of the MC fans as the Wildcat players celebrated on Moody Field.
Genki LeClair, Aubrey Sine and Jackson Barry had hits for the Giants, with Nicolas Belgum collecting two hits and Trevor Foehr adding three to the Giants total. Tonnerre and Foehr had two strike-outs on the mound, with Benz adding three.
The Giants will settle the score on the road with Drake at 4:30 on Tuesday, after their first game was ended in a rain-shortened 1-0 victory, a date that Drake has had circled on their calendar since that day. Redwood is currently ranked #7 in the NCS DII Division while Drake is ranked #2.
Redwood has an outside chance of earning the #2 seed (which comes with a first round bye) in the MCAL play-offs. If Redwood wins their next two games and Tam loses to San Marin and Marin Catholic, San Marin would then need to lose their game to Justin-Siena and Marin Catholic would need to lose one of their next two games against Novato. Simply put, Tam needs to lose their next two games, San Marin needs to lose one, and Marin Catholic needs to lose two while the Giants sweep.
Seedings will all be determined this week and game results on Tuesday will make the muddy play-off picture a bit clearer, but no matter, the Giants need a win at Drake on Tuesday.