Cap holds off Mateo; Burton earns long-deserved win

“As soon as the ball went in the air, my heart sank,” Ceron said. “The wind was making it dance a little bit up there and then I just heard my other guy saying: ‘Where is it?’”

Ceron had been shading toward the middle of the infield and got a good first step back on the ball. He never lost sight of it through the bright lights and the windy San Bruno night sky, but didn’t stop moving his feet to make an adventurous looking catch and finish off Cap’s 6-3 non-league baseball win over San Mateo.

“I had to keep tracking it and, I’m not going to lie, I was hoping to get called off,” Ceron said. “I was a little scared, but I ended up with the catch.”

The catch averted disaster and preserved the win for starting pitcher Ryan Burton. The senior right-hander has pitched well this season despite entering Friday with a 1-0 record. He took the ball against two West Catholic Athletic League opponents, in Serra and St. Francis. The Mustangs won both those games via dramatic walk-off, leaving Burton to take no-decisions.

Burton worked 6 2/3 innings Friday allowing three runs on six hits to improve his record to 2-0. It was his first win since Cap’s season opener Feb. 21 against Kennedy-Fremont.

“He has pitched so tough this year and doesn’t have the record to show for it,” Mustangs manager Matt Wilson said. “It kind of stinks when you don’t get it. But tonight, I know he didn’t get to finish it out, but he got the win.”

Burton went out for the seventh inning but immediately ran into trouble. With Cap leading 6-2, San Mateo sophomore Christian Louie led off with a single. Jesus Oliveras followed with a double to right and Hudson Brandt lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3. Burton bounced back with his fifth strikeout of the night for the second out. But after back-to-back walks to Tyce Corpus and Julian Delfin to turn over the batting order, San Mateo sophomore Hayato Nishiyama chased Burton with a sharp RBI single to center.

“Actually, I was trying to hit (a) home run,” said Nishiyama, who hasn’t homered for two years since living in his native Japan.

Cap (12-5) turned to reliever Junior Riordan, who locked up with Wong for the final at-bat of the game.

There was no one San Mateo (8-5) wanted at the plate more than Wong in that situation. The senior catcher was riding high off gunning out a would-be base stealer amid Cap’s two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth. He also had a big swing of the bat in the Bearcats last game March 28 against Terra Nova, connecting for a game-tying home run to force extra-innings in San Mateo’s eventual 7-6 loss.

Wong put a good swing on Riordan’s decisive offering, but Cap’s closer kept it off the sweet spot to induce the pop-up.

“I was like: ‘Holy smokes! No one can see it!’” Wilson said. “Usually [center fielder Nathan Balch] is the loudest guy on the field, and he’ll come running in and catch the ball. When I didn’t hear him saying anything, I’m like: ‘Oh no, no one sees the ball.’ And then [Ceron] made the play and it all worked out.”

Ceron was also a hero at the plate, putting Cap ahead in a four-run rally in the third. San Mateo jumped ahead in the top of the inning on an RBI single by Wong. But Cap rallied back against San Mateo’s starting pitcher Louie, starting with an RBI single by Riordan to tie it. Ceron then stepped up with runners on the corners and raked a go-ahead RBI double up the right-center field.

“It was electric,” Ceron said of the Cap reaction. “That was to take the lead there and it all started snowballing into a long inning.”

Dermott Philpott followed with a two-run single to put the Mustangs up 4-1.

Louie, San Mateo’s ace, exited in the third inning, with the team’s No. 2 starter Julian Blees taking over in relief. Blees finished it out with 3 1/3 innings of work. It was the first work for either pitcher in 10 days.

“I think it hurts a little bit,” Bearcats manager Neil Goldstein said of the long layoff. “It’s like he’s in a good rhythm, and then — but Cap’s a good team.”

The non-league game was the last on the Mustangs’ schedule, as they have 10 Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division games remaining on their regular-season slate. Cap is currently near the bottom of the standings, tied for sixth place in the eight-team division. Wilson said the team probably needs to finish in fifth-place or better to have a shot at qualifying for the Central Coast Section playoffs.

“We’re going to have to play tough,” Wilson said. “We’re going to have to get a sweep or two, and at least split with everybody. We can’t afford to get swept.”