BASEBALL: Monterey Edges Monte Vista Christian

Monterey 3, Monte Vista Christian 2

The Star:  Monte Vista Christian’s Austin Daich had his hand in every scoring play for the Mustangs.  In the second inning, he used his bat to drive in sophomore first baseman Nelson Pyle to give the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead.  Daich used smart base running to score the tying run on a pass ball in the fourth inning and also came within inches of scoring the leading run in the sixth inning.

Another star for the mustangs was their starting pitcher Sam Thorne, who pitched very well and he held the undefeated Toreadores to only three runs during a hard fought seven inning affair.

The Turning Point: The game was tied 2-2 in the sixth inning when Monte Vista Christian’s Austin Daich drew a walk.  Now with an eventual leading run on base, Daich and the Mustangs got aggressive, stealing second and eventually third base. With two outs and a runner on third, head coach Don Keathley decided to try a special play.  He told the batter that if he got to first base, try and steal second base so that Daich could attempt to score. The Mustangs put the pressure on their opponent to make a decision, but Daich was tagged out at home as he attempted to score in a very close play.

The game stayed tied until a sacrifice fly from Monterey High’s Jonathan Rosa scored Jordon Esposo in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Monterey won the game 3-2.

The Quotes: Monte Vista Christian was fired up for this game and they came out ready to play.

“We were ready since last night for this game. We all played great,” Monte Vista Christian’s junior center fielder Austin Daich said, “We knew we had to be aggressive out there, especially with our base running.”

The Mustangs started the ball game hitting the ball well and were able to get some base runners on base against a tough opponent that’s undefeated in league

“With runners in scoring position that’s we are taught what to do, so I was just thinking  OK pressure situation, just hit the ball where coach said too,” Daich said.

MVC starting pitcher grinded his way through a difficult lineup and gave his team a chance to win the game.

“I had to battle through the first four innings. It was hard for me to adjust to the mound,” Monte Vista Christian’s starting pitcher junior Sam Thorne said.  “My defense helped me by picking off a couple of the runners for me. They really had my back and I was proud of them.”

What's Next? Monte Vista Christian (14-10; 12-3 Monterey Bay League) returns home and will host the Seaside Spartans on Monday, May 9th.  Game time is at 4 p.m.

Bottom Line: MVC couldn’t solve the first place opponent yet again. However, plenty of good things came out of the narrow defeat. After several lopsided wins in favor of Monterey, MVC nearly busted up the spotless league record of the first place Toreadores. The playoff-like atmosphere from Wednesday’s game will come in handy when the CCS playoffs begin in a few weeks.

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Stats

Austin Daich- 2-for-3 RBI and a walk

Danny Saporito- 1-for-3 with a double

Nick Matiasevich- 2-for-3