Late magic for Mateo

“Huge win,” San Mateo managed Neal Goldstein said. “We never quit. Our guys didn’t quit. That was the key there.”

The top of San Mateo’s batting order got the job done in both cases. In the game-tying rally in the seventh, freshman leadoff man Dane Anderson coaxed a one-out walk. Then a double by No. 2 hitter Tommy Ozawa set the table for Jack Warren, as the junior lashed a two-run single to right to tie it 2-2.

Then in the bottom of the ninth, Ozawa led off with a sharp single to center. The junior moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a long fly to right off the bat of Warren. Then, cleanup hitter Sean Tanap laced a single to left past the drawn-in infield to win it — the first walk-off hit of his varsity career — sending San Mateo into a flurry of celebration in the middle of the diamond. 

“It was a fastball middle in,” Tanap said. “… I saw the infield was in. I hit it as hard as I can. Got it past the infielders.”

Warren’s fly out to right darn near left the yard. And only a great play by El Camino right fielder Dylan Debono, crashing into the wall as he gloved it, prevented the game from ending right there. It was fitting Warren figured into both the tying and winning rallies after his strong pitching performance went for naught.

San Mateo’s junior left-hander locked up with El Camino starter Levi Stubbles, as the two traded zeroes through the opening three frames before the EC bats broke through in the fourth. It was Debono who put the Colts on the board, tattooing a hanging slider for two-out double to deep left field to drive home Uriel Prieto and Lorenzo Perez.

“Everything was working,” said Tanap, San Mateo’s catcher, of Warren’s stuff. “There was just one missed pitch.”

Warren wriggled his way out of a dicey first inning in which El Camino loaded the bases with nobody out. But the crafty southpaw induced a pop-out to shallow left, then got a little lucky when a line drive was smacked right at third baseman Jacob Selph, who gloved it on the fly and stepped on third for a double play to end the inning.

Ultimately Warren worked five-plus innings, allowing two runs on eight hits to take the no-decision. Right-hander Kilmer Sanchez worked four innings of relief, allowing three hits while striking out four, to earn the win.

“[Warren] pitched well,” Goldstein said. “He got himself in a little trouble in the first. He hit the first guy then he walked a guy. So, they got the bases loaded without them producing anything. But he battles. Jeff battles. He throws strikes, makes them beat you. He hangs in there.”

Stubbles was on point too. A junior transfer from South City, the right-hander had to sit out until April 4. Thursday marked just his third appearance of the year, and his most effective. He worked five innings, holding San Mateo scoreless on two hits while striking out eight, including six over his final two frames.

Previous to Stubbles being activated, El Camino had lost six straight. The Colts have since gone 3-3, including their first win in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play earlier this week 9-3 over San Mateo.

“It would definitely be a huge spark from Levi Stubbles,” Colts manager Kevin McGovern said. “I think, one, he makes everyone better around him. So that kind of helps the whole team play as one. I think over the course of the beginning of the season, we weren’t playing together. Then all of a sudden we started playing together.”

McGovern is looking toward a two-year plan, with Stubbles and leadoff hitter Matt Dayao the core of 11 juniors on the varsity roster.

“The maturity plan is going good and so is the physical stuff,” McGovern said. “And, right now, I think they’ve turned that corner. So, right about now is hopefully when we’re laying our best baseball, right now at the end of April. That’s what we’re hoping for, especially with Levi back.”

San Mateo is a similar situation with just seven seniors on its varsity roster of 16. But Thursday’s comeback win — powered by three juniors and a freshman — showed a spark of a different kind, with a Bearcats team sitting in sixth place in the PAL Ocean Division that feels like it still has something to prove.  

“It just goes to speak of our character, I think,” Warren said. “ … This was a really big game just to get the momentum shifting forward again. Being at home, we kind of felt good today. And we just produced.”