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Sports

Westmont Comeback Ends Gilroy's Season

Warriors rally late to nip Mustangs in wild CCS first round matchup.

The Score: Westmont 9, Gilroy 8

The Stars: Leads came and went, baseballs left the yard and when all the dust settled, the Westmont High-Campbell baseball team survived a wild Central Coast Section Division II first round playoff game Thursday afternoon at Gilroy High.

Westmont senior pitcher Devin Laucher uses his bat as well as his arm to help Westmont defeat Gilroy 9-8, advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinal round.

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Laucher, who replaced starting pitcher Brett Solano in the sixth inning, induced two strikeouts and held Gilroy off the board in the frame, but Gilroy still clung to an 8-7 advantage. 

In the top half of the seventh, Westmont rallied with two runs, started off by a Casey Thompson RBI knock that scored infielder Marshall McKinnon.

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Later on in the inning, Laucher came through with the key hit his team needed. The second clutch hit of the frame scored Thompson and put Westmont back on top, 9-8.

Gilroy senior Eric Brolin pitched a strong game after taking over for starting pitcher sophomore Ronnie Reed in the second inning.  Brolin kept the Mustangs in the game by quieting the potent bats of Westmont and also helped himself out by going 2-for-3 at the plate. Brolin also drew a walk and was hit by a pitch.

By the end of the day, the two teams combined for 17 runs and plenty of fireworks. The fifth inning blast off the bat of Gilroy first bagger Eric Vegas looked to be a mid-game knockout punch that the hosts in blue needed to advance. Vegas pummeled a three-run blast over the left-center fence.  The shot gave the Mustangs an 8-5 lead after five.

The Turning Point: Westmont was down by only a run in the top of the seventh inning when McKinnon scored off a Thompson base hit to tie the game at eight runs apiece.  Launcher put the Warriors up for good moments later.

Vegas nearly sparked some two outs magic during the Mustangs last at-bats’ in the seventh. The slugger dropped in a base hit and thanks to some heads up base running Vegas snuck into second base to put the tying run in scoring position. 

However, the next batter rolled a tricky ground to Westmont’s third baseman who scooped up the ball and ended the Mustangs last ditch rally with a quick throw to first.

The Quotes: "When I came into the game I felt good," Westmont senior pitcher Devin Laucher said. “It felt like all I had to do was pour it in there. My teammates have been awesome this whole year because they have had my back when I was shaky at times.”

Casey Thompson scored the winning run for the Warriors.

“I saw that the catcher was off the plate and I knew if the ball was hit I was going to run my fastest to get across that plate,” Thompson said.

The Westmont head coach was a happy camper after the wild first round triumph.

“This was a huge win for us. We know a little bit about Gilroy and we knew it was going to be tough,” Westmont’s head baseball coach Tony Pianto said. “Everyone fought in this game. We fought, they fought. We just fought a little bit harder in the end.”

Gilroy didn’t come out with the win, leaving the team and it’s coach to reflect instead of game plan for the next opponent.

“Both teams are evenly matched. This team is just like us. Their game is to hit- and-run while ours is to steal,” Gilroy’s head coach Johnny Ramirez said.  “We battled hard. I thought we had a chance with Reed coming to the plate, but the ball just missed the target. Our hats off to Westmont, they are a good team.”

Gilroy pitcher Eric Brolin kept the Mustangs right in the ball game until the very game on Thursday.

“I felt good going into the game, but towards the end I had to fight through a little fatigue,” Brolin said. “Our defense was solid behind me. That helped me a lot.”

What's Next? Westmont (15-13) advances to the quarter finals of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs and will face No. 1 seed Pioneer High of San Jose at PAL Stadium in San Jose. First pitch is set for 10 am on Saturday morning.

Gilroy’s finished an up-and-down season with a 15-13 overall record and fourth place in the Tri-County Athletic League.

Bottom Line: The evenly-matched foes treated the Gilroy audience to quite a ball game on a great May afternoon for a baseball playoff game. Westmont will need more of the same offensive exploits if they want to same alive and get past Mt. Hamilton League champion Pioneer.

Gilroy loses several key seniors, but still has young pieces in place all over the diamond that will return for the 2012 season.

—————————

Westmont      2          1          0          2          0          2          2          -           9

Gilroy              0          2          2          0          4          0          0          -           8

Winning pitcher: Brett Solano

Losing pitcher: Eric Brolin

 

 

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