CORPUS CHRISTI – Boerne Champion faced a gritty Sharyland team and while the Rattlers tested the Chargers in last weekend’s third-round playoff series, Champion was still able to sweep the Mission school.
The Chargers took the opener Thursday night, 2-1, and then closed it out Friday, 10-7. All games were at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.
Up next, Champion faces Liberty Hill in the regional finals or fourth round in a series starting Thursday. Game 1 is at Concordia University in Austin, 6 p.m.
Game 2 is at Northeast Sports Park Friday in S.A., 1 p.m., and a third game, if needed, is Saturday in Seguin, 3 p.m.
The Chargers are closing in on 30 wins this year and stand at 29-8 heading into Thursday night’s Game 1 with Liberty Hill.
Game 2 Champion 10, Sharyland 7 The teams scored in bunches last Friday and the game was punctuated by big hits.
Sharyland tallied 2 runs in the first, but the Chargers answered with 2 runs in the second to tie it up at deuces.
Jaeden Yamaguchi had the big hit in the second for the Chargers and smacked a ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in the outfield to bring in two runs to tie it up.
It stayed at 2-2 until the Chargers received a couple more big hits in the fourth frame. Owen Kuhl smashed another ground rule double and drove in a run, while Aidan Smith sent a full count offering over the rightfield wall for a 3-run home run.
When the inning was over, the Chargers had scored 5 runs and were up 7-2 and seemed to be cruising to the win, but the Rattlers struck in the fifth with a 4-run inning to slice the lead to a single run.
Sharyland used a 2-RBI single, along with 2 other hits, while Champion helped them out a little bit with a couple of miscues that allowed the Rattlers to score but Chargers coach Ben Woodchick said they bounced back well.
“We had a couple of mental and physical mistakes in that inning, but that happens in baseball,” he said. “They turned right back and kept plugging.”
Sharyland’s big inning in the sixth made it 7-6 going into the seventh and the Chargers responded just like Woodchick said.
AJ Grizzaffi had the final big hit of the game for the Chargers in the seventh. Grizzaffi, the Game 2 starter, legged out a 2-RBI triple to score Austin Garritano and Mark Thompson.
Grizzaffi later scored on a passed ball and the Chargers had a little breathing room at 10-6 going into the bottom of the inning.
Projected Game 3 starter Pearce Kelly entered in the sixth and recorded the final out of the inning.
In the seventh, the Rattlers were able to push in one run thanks to an RBI triple, but Kelly struck out the final batter to end it.
Woodchick was especially proud of how his team hit in Game 2 after they had base knocks from all nine starting batters, 1-9.
“That’s hard to do,” he said. “That pitch-to-pitch mentality paid off.”
Grizzaffi gets the win from the mound after going 5.1 innings and giving up 5 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and striking out 5.
Jackson Melanson entered in relief and faced 5 batters and yielded 3 hits, no earned runs, no walks and he also struck out 1, while Kelly went 1.1 innings and scattered 2 hits, gave up an earned run, no walks and fanned 2 to notch the save.
Game 1 Champion 2, Sharyland 1
Sawyer Smith tossed a gem in Thursday’s Game 1 opener against Mission Sharyland and helped pace the Chargers to a 2-1 victory.
Smith walked one batter and only gave up one hit, a double in the second inning to Sergio Ibarra, who ended up scoring the Rattlers’ only run.
In the second, Ibarra jumped on the first Smith offering of the inning and doubled to centerfield. The next batter, Luis Balderas, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Balderas to third.
Luis Cienfuegos came up and hit a grounder to second baseman Andrew Harrison. Balderas broke for home and Harrison threw to the plate, but the throw was off, and Balderas was safe to make it 1-0.
After that, Smith retired the next two batters to end the inning and then mowed them down in order over the next five innings for 17 straight outs.
Of the 17 straight batters retired, only two came via strikeouts as Smith let his defense work behind him.
Woodchick said Smith pitched a great game.
“It was his best outing of the year,” the coach said. “In the first inning he had some misses that were uncharacteristic. I think the humidity had something to do with it, but for him to lock in like that and retire 17 straight was special.”
Sharyland’s 1-0 lead held from the second until the fifth when the Chargers tied it. With one out, Sam Miller hit a hard grounder to Ibarra, the Rattlers’ first baseman, who misplayed the ball to allow Miller to reach safely.
Miller’s courtesy runner, Patrick Hall, moved to third on an Austin Garritano single up the middle. With runners at the corners, Sharyland tried the hidden ball trick where the third baseman actually had the ball, while the pitcher was on the mound, but not on the rubber, and pretended he had it.
Hall took a lead off third and was tagged by the third baseman, but it was not allowed since the game was still in a timeout, according to Woodchick.
Eventually, a passed ball that didn’t get too far away from the catcher Cienfuegos allowed Hall to score from third because the catcher couldn’t locate the ball.
Later in the inning, Garritano was at third and tried to score on an AJ Grizzaffi grounder to shortstop Santiago Balderas but was thrown out at home to keep it at 1-1.
It didn’t matter in the end because the Chargers pulled ahead in the sixth. Jaedyn Yamaguchi singled to start the inning.
Garland Whitehead came up and doubled, to move Yamaguchi’s courtesy runner Caiden Cruz to third.
At that point, the Rattlers intentionally walked Aidan Smith to load the bases with one out in hopes of turning a double play, something Sharyland did twice in the first three innings.
Sawyer Smith came up and helped his cause with a fly ball to right fielder Diego Chapa, who ran a long way to make a play and got his glove on the ball but dropped it, allowing Cruz to score from third to give Champion its first lead of the game.
Chapa did manage to throw out the runner moving from first to second for the second out.
From there, Sharyland pitcher Fabrizio Salinas retired the next Charger batter with a pop up to end the inning, but the damage was done, and the Chargers were leading 2-1.
The game went to the seventh and Sawyer Smith didn’t let up. He induced a ground out to third base for the first out and got the next two Sharyland batters to pop up to the outfield to end in game that only took about 90 minutes to complete.
The only walk Smith gave up occurred in the first inning when he walked Rattlers’ pitcher Fabrizio Salinas with one out.
Salinas’ courtesy runner was picked off after getting in a run down for the second out and then Smith got the next Sharyland hitter to pop up to retire the side, which means he faced the minimum number of batters in six of seven innings.
Salinas gave up 5 hits, the double to Whitehead, plus singles to Owen Kuhl, Yamaguchi, Aidan Smith and Garritano.
REGION IV-5A
DII REGIONAL FINALS
CHAMPION VS. LIBERTY HILL • Game 1, Thursday, May 22, at Concordia University (Austin), 6 p.m.
• Game 2, Friday, May 23, at Northeast Sports Park in San Antonio, 1 p.m.
• Game 3, Saturday, May 25, at Seguin High School, 3 p.m., if needed.
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