A Sacred Heart Prep Gator party at Stanford University’s Sunken Diamond

Saturday night, less than two months after Marquess died Jan. 30, at age 78, McMillan coached from the same first-base dugout Marquess manned as Stanford’s head coach for 41 seasons. And McMillan’s Gators (9-4) rose to the moment, rallying for a dramatic 6-5 non-league victory over Menlo-Atherton.

“You have one of the most historic fields in the country,” McMillan said. “It’s in our backyard, but when you think about the entire country, it’s an honor to play here. With Mark Marquess passing ... it was really special to play here tonight, especially this year.”

The spacious foul territory of Sunken Diamond had a big say in the outcome, as an errant M-A pickoff throw with the score deadlocked 4-all in the top of the seventh set the stage for the go-ahead run.

SHP junior Thomas Barton led off with a bloop single to right. Then the errant pickoff throw turned into a two-base error while M-A was chasing it down down. With Barton advancing all the way to third, the Gators loaded the bases with senior Nico Pollioni getting hit by a pitch and senior Blake Affrunti drawing a walk. Junior cleanup hitter JP Durrett then delivered a sacrifice fly to give SHP a 5-4 lead.

McMillan then put the runners in motion at precisely the right moment. With runners at the corners and two out, junior Colin Beim sent a grounder to the shortstop position vacated by M-A’s Ryder Kelly, who broke to cover second base. The result was an RBI infield single, with Pollioni scoring what proved to be a critical insurance run.

“That’s our offense,” McMillan said. “You just put pressure on the defense and we see what happens.”

The Gators put pressure on the defense all game long, stealing six bases on the night. With SHP leading 2-1 in the third, senior Dylan Betts got hit by a pitch by M-A staring pitcher Max Brubacher to leadoff the inning, and promptly stole second. That set up an RBI single to right by Beim.

M-A (3-9) rallied back from two deficits, and came within 90 feet of overcoming another deficit in the seventh.

“The record, it’s tough, we’re 3-9 now,” Bears manager Jordan Paroubeck said. “And it appears we’re a bad team, but we’re not a bad team. And with the piece of [senior pitcher Wes Peterson] coming back, and now a healthy [senior Masataka Shudo], I really do feel like we can make a run. It’s a really good group that is fiery.”

M-A rallied to tie it in the bottom of the third with a two-run single from sophomore Lucas Ten Vaanholt, but SHP again used the running game to produce a run. In the top of the fifth, with Peterson making his season debut in relief, Affrunti reached on an error, then proceeded to steal second and third. Peterson then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Affrunti to score, giving the Gators a 4-3 lead.

Peterson, a returning All-PAL Bay Division second-team right-hander, worked two innings, allowing one run on two hits.

“He was excellent,” Paroubeck said. “His stuff was good and he’s confident. And he kind of gives our team energy.”

SHP starting pitcher Rallin Covey worked five innings, but got betrayed by his defense in the bottom of the fifth when M-A freshman Owen Coupe reached on an infield throwing error, advancing to second on the play. Two straight wild pitches allowed Coupe to score to tie it 4-4, leaving Covey to take a no-decision.

Junior reliever Lucca Larson earned the win with one inning of work, with two big assist throws from Pollioni behind the plate. Pollioni’s first assist came in the sixth when M-A junior Merrick Lee singled sharply to right, only to have Pollioni gun him down at second trying to steal to retire the side. That was just a preface to Pollioni’s game-changer throw on a bunt play in the bottom of the seventh to cut down a runner at third.

M-A set the table in the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back hits from the bottom of its order. Senior Joe Pagee led off with a load single to left. Then No. 9 batter Jack Willbanks fell into an 0-2 hole, only to battle through a nine-pitch at-bat.

“It was going long,” Willbanks said. “My body kind of wanted to check out, but I had to kind of force myself to clock back in and stay battling for my team.”

One of four catchers in the M-A rotation — along with Coupe, freshman Joey Dresch and senior MJ Ellazar — Willbanks punctuated the battle by launching a towering RBI double that two-hopped the left-field wall.

“That was 100% then best at-bat of the year,” Paroubeck said.

Willbanks entered the at-bat 0 for 13 on the year with seven strikeouts.

“I was just kind of surprised I hit the ball, because I haven’t had a hit all year,” Willbanks said. “So, I was just happy.”

SHP then turned to senior Chase Affrunti, and Pollioni stepped up to help the right-hander nail down the save. With a courtesy runner entering for Willbanks representing the tying run, the first pitch thrown by Chase Affrunti was bunted in front of the plate, by screwed into the dirt for Pollioni to pounce and throw out the runner at third.

The senior catcher said he didn’t have any doubt about going after the lead runner.

“Not really,” Pollioni said. “I knew it was right in front of me, so he didn’t get a good jump. So I just jumped my gun and threw it through.”

Chase Affrunti struck out the next batter, and closed it out with a towering fly ball to center field to shore up the first save of his varsity career.

“When Chase came in, he had a [personal record] today, he was throwing 86,” Pollioni said. “So, that’s all we needed.”