Cañada baseball takes series off CSM; Skyline wins 11th straight

Ross’ return to the lineup in last Tuesday’s series opener spurred the Colts. The freshman dislocated the pinky of his throwing hand Saturday, May 16, in a loss to Skyline. Cañada went on to lose its next three games, the last of a six-game slide in Coast North play. Batting leadoff for the first time this season, the Colts’ leading hitter went 4 for 10 in the series win over CSM.

“I think it’s pretty obvious, he’s a big part of our lineup,” Colts manager Tony Lucca said.

The only game of the series in which Ross went hitless was last Thursday’s 25-5 loss at CSM. He went 3 for 5 in the series opener and had a 1-for-2 showing with two walks and two runs scored Saturday. Ross has been limited to designated hitter duties since returning for a three-game absence — during which, the Colts suffered a three-game series sweep against Chabot College — but is expected to return to his natural position of center field in the coming days.

“He’s pretty close,” Lucca said. “We’re looking forward to maybe having him out there [this] week.”

Starting pitcher Devin Bettencourt earned the win Saturday, firing seven shutout innings. The freshman right-hander limited the Bulldogs — who are hitting .304 as a team this season — to four hits and three walks while striking out five. His record improves to 4-3.

“He did a great job today,” Lucca said. “He mixed his pitches well and kind of kept them off balanced and pitched himself out of some tight jams today. But he was the guy for us today.”

Ross figured in two of Cañada’s run-scoring rallies. In the first, the left-handed hitting freshman — currently ranking second in the Coast North with a .407 batting average — led off with a single. He promptly stole second then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by No. 2 hitter Kyle Bittner. No. 3 hitter Dom Avila then grounded out to the middle of the infield to drive home Ross, giving the Colts a 1-0 lead.

In the second, John Paul Avila followed the same get-’em-on, get-’em-over, get-’em-in formula. The sophomore led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a flyout off the bat of Carson Vance. Avila then raced home on a wild pitch for the second run of the game.

In the fifth, Ross set the table with a two-out walk. Bittner cashed in, shooting a double down the right-field line to score Ross from first, giving the Colts a 3-0 lead.

Freshman right-hander Gianvito Carriglio entered to start the eighth and ran into trouble in two-thirds of an inning of work. With one out, Will Bowen and Nathan Martinez sparked a rally with back-to-back singles. After an error on a Carriglio pickoff throw moved the runners up, Aidan Taclas produced a sacrifice fly to cut into the Colts’ lead.

Cañada close Zak Sullivan entered to end the threat, though. The sophomore right-hander fired 1 1/3 innings, stranding two runners in the eighth, then navigating a one-out double by JoJo Cardinale in the ninth for his third save of the year.

Jon Paul Avila paced the Colts with two hits. Martinez and Vicente Feliciano recorded two hits apiece for the Bulldogs.

“I think that we ended the week on a positive note for sure,” Lucca said. “I think we kind of dug ourselves into a whole as for as our conference season is considered. … Anytime you beat a quality program, a team like that, you’re feeling good about it. But it’s just one more team in the course of the season … so we’ve got to go win one game at a time for the rest if the season and see how far we can take this thing.”

With the win, Cañada moves out of the cellar in the Coast North standings. The Colts are now tied for fourth place with City College of San Francisco in the six-team conference, four games behind third-place CSM.

Skyline sweeps CCSF, wins 11th straight

The top of the Skyline Trojans’ batting order continues to rake, with Ethan Reader, Elijah Fairchild and Ethan Bergan combining to go 4 for 13 with a pair of walks Saturday at Trojan Diamond in a 7-2 win over City College of San Francisco.

The win caps the third straight series sweep to open Coast North Conference play for the Trojans (9-0 Coast North, 20-8 overall), who have won 11 straight overall.

Freshman right-hander Will Hansen capitalized on six early runs — two in the first and four in the third — to work five innings to earn the win. Hansen allowed one run in the top of the first when Donovan Williams scored on a passed ball. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out five. His record improves to 5-0.

Reader led off the bottom of the first with a single. The with two outs, cleanup hitter Ethan Casas-Wu connected for a two-run home run to put the Trojans ahead. The freshman DH has two homers on the year, both in the last five games.

In the third, Reader reached on an infield error to open the frame. The freshman scored after a Fairchild single, when Fairchild got caught in a rundown between first and second. Skyline then loaded the bases for Cesar Ceron to get hit by a pitch, forcing home Bergan. Caovinh Nguyen followed with a two-run single to make it 6-1 Trojans.

Nguyen tripled home a run in the seventh inning. The sophomore catcher was 2 for 4 with a season-high three RBIs.

CCSF starting pitcher David Howard allowed six runs (two earned) through six innings to take the loss. His record falls to 3-5.

The bullpen bridged the game Skyline, with Cole Kenyon and Garett Carlson combining for three perfect innings of relief. Devin Costa worked the ninth, allowing one run on two hits before closing out the sweep.

With the loss, CCSF (2-7, 8-18) falls into a fourth-place tie with Cañada in the Coast North standings. First-place Skyline holds a two-game lead over second-place Chabot, and a three-game lead over third-place CSM. The Trojans begin a three-game series with CSM, Tuesday, in San Mateo at 2:30 p.m. Next week, Skyline squares off with Chabot for a three-game set.