3/10: Senior Trevor Foehr gave the Giants a present on his 18th birthday today with a pinch-hit walk-off RBI single up the middle in the bottom the seventh inning. With the score tied 2-2, Firenzi called on Foehr after Dane Goodman led off the inning by working the count to 3-1 and then took a curveball off of his sleeve. With one out, Goodman stole second. Pascal Brassey roped a liner to center, putting runners on second and third, forcing Monte Vista to bring the infield in to try to hold Goodman at third. Foehr worked the count to 2-2, and then roped the next pitch up the middle to plate Goodman. Redwood’s bench cleared and Foehr was mobbed on the field. “It was a curve ball right over the middle of the plate” Foehr said after the game. When asked how it felt to get the game winning hit on his birthday, “I honestly didn’t think about it until after the ‘storm the field thing’…but it was a great birthday present.”
Monte Vista crushed the Giants 7-0 at their yard last year and came into the game with a 5-0 preseason record; one of their wins was an 11-2 drubbing of College Park. In their five pre-season games leading up to this one, the Mustangs had scored 43 runs (8.6 per game).
Oliver Pearson held Monte Vista to just two runs, one of which was unearned as the Redwood defense committed two errors in the top of the second, giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. Redwood tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Nicolas Belgum lead off the inning with a single to center. After stealing second, Belgum was knocked in on a one-out liner up the middle by Aubrey Sine. Belgum has had at least one hit and scored one or more runs in the last five consecutive games.
The Mustangs would score after a couple of hits in the top of the fifth to take the lead 2-1. Luke Zlatnich lead off the bottom of the inning with a triple to the right-center gap, barely beating the tag on a head-first slide at third. Luke was erased at the plate on a pitch-out on an attempted squeeze play. Pascal Brassey then roped a single and was lifted for pinch runner Riley Marsh. Marsh stole second and Mackie Skall moved Marsh to third on a well executed sacrifice bunt, setting the table for DH Genki LeClair. LeClair watched a 1-2 curveball bounce into the dirt and to the backstop, scoring Marsh from third and tying the game 2-2 going into the top of the sixth.
Pearson sent the Mustangs number two, three and four hitters down in order. The Giants’ heart of the order threatened with a walk by Nicolas Belgum, but couldn’t score taking the game to the seventh tied 2-2.
Michael Benz came in for the Giants in the top of the seventh and sent Monte Vista down in order, striking out one. Benz earned his first win of the season after the Giants scored their walk-off run in the bottom of the frame. Pearson ended the day pitching six innings, giving up one earned run, four hits and striking out four.
Henry Zeisler, Nicolas Belgum, Aubrey Sine, Luke Zlatnich, and Trevor Foehr had a hit apiece for the Giants. Pascal Brassy had a single and a double. Sine and Foehr both had an RBI, knocking in two of the Giants runs.
The Giants hope to tally back-to-back Mustang victories as they open the MCAL season on Tuesday on the road at San Marin. The Mustangs come into the game with a 2-3 preseason record. With a 2-2 record against the Giants in the last two years, the Mustangs are the only MCAL team that doesn’t have a losing record against the Giants since Firenzi took over the team in 2015.
Update: The game has been moved to Moody Field as the field at San Marin is unplayable. As a result, the game on April 20th (Firenzi’s birthday) will be played at San Marin.