Capuchino knocks off Burlingame

That was the case when Burlingame traveled to San Bruno to face the Mustangs. The Panthers made Orozco work but in the end, Orozco and the Mustangs did enough to come away with a 6-3 victory.

"We couldn't wait (for this game)," said Orozco, who finished the game with 11 strikeouts. "They're one of the best teams. Everyone was pumped for this game. I couldn't sleep [Thursday] night."

Capuchino manager Matt Wilson knew the game would be hard fought.

"It's always a big win when you play Burlingame. They're our baseball rival," Wilson said. "They're a great team and we needed to go in and win."

Orozco, who has dominated at times this season, was forced to throw more than 150 pitches to pick up the win. He endured a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth, allowing one run. He found himself in trouble again in the seventh when he walked back-to-back batters with two outs. But Orozco had every intention of finishing what he started.

"I was going to finish," Orozco said.

Wilson came out to visit Orozco in the seventh and said, "You better get this (next) batter," Orozco said.

He needed only three more pitches to end the game, striking out Mike Butterfield.

"I did not want to let him go out in the seventh. I had (Donte) Snyder warmed up and ready to go," Wilson said, adding that Orozco hadn't pitched in two weeks. "But Jesse looked at me and said, 'I want to finish this game.' (When Wilson went to the mound in the seventh) he said, 'This is it coach. This is the last guy."

With Orozco taking care of business on the mound, the Capuchino offense did just enough to support its pitcher. The game was decided in the bottom of the fifth. With the score tied at 2, L.B. Interdonato singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Joe Dieterle walked and Snyder singled to right off the Burlingame first baseman's glove to drive home Interdonato and give Capuchino (3-1 PAL, 10-3 overall) a 3-2 lead. Dieterle went to third on the play and scored on Greg Gonzalez's sacrifice fly to right. Orozco followed and on a 1-1 pitch, drove a Danny March pitch just right of the scoreboard in left-center field for a two-run home run and a 6-2 Capuchino lead.

"I was trying to make contact," Orozco said. "I saw a pitch I liked - belt high."

The blast gave the Mustangs some breathing room. Burlingame (5-2, 9-9) scored a run in the sixth when Bryce Gotthardt scored after Butterfield's hot shot to third eluded the Capuchino third baseman. The Panthers had their chances in the sixth and seventh, but could not come up with the big hit.

"Things weren't falling our way," said Burlingame manager Rich Sciutto. "[Capuchino] played a good game."

Despite facing a tough pitcher, it appeared Burlingame was up to the task. After three scoreless innings, the Panthers got on the scoreboard first when Shane Arslan parked a 1-2 pitch into the tennis courts deep in left field to give Burlingame a 1-0 lead.

Capuchino came right back with two in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Orozco walked and his courtesy runner came around to score when Kevin Wild drilled a triple to deep right field. Jared McGrew followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.

Burlingame came right back to tie it with a run in the fifth. Tom Becerra led off the inning with an infield single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Logan Freethy came to the plate and quickly fell behind 0-2. After fouling off a couple of pitches, Freethy smacked a run-scoring double to left field to tie the score at 2.

"They come around when they have to," Wilson said of his team. "They want to win. They're going to give me gray hairs, but they expect to win."