Despite loss in CCS baseball finals, El Camino reinvigorating South City baseball landscape

Now, the rivals have returned tot he CCS postseason map in symphony, each reaching a Division VI championship game in back-to-back years. Both settled for runner-up finishes, most recently with No. 7-seed El Camino (23-6) falling 4-2 Saturday to No. 4 Pacific Grove at Excite Ballpark. Colts manager Dan Ordonez, though, is determined to return baseball across the city to its glory days.

“That starts from out youth programs now,” Ordonez said. “We’ve got new guys coming in ... that really just set the tone at the younger age, which really just makes mine and [South City coach Matt Schaukowitch’s] job a lot easier, teaching them the fundamentals and how to play the game the right way at such a young age.”

There projects to be one striking different between the modern era and the old school cultivated by Brian, Zuardo and former El Camino coach Carlos Roman. A phenomenon of both El Camino and South City rising to prominence in back-to-back years, the two now aspire for a friendly rivalry, quite the antithesis of the glory days.

“It’s a brotherhood in South City,” Ordonez said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing the blue, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing the red. All these kids grew up playing against each other, playing with each other. We have guys that were teammates at one point that are rivals now. When you’re from South City, we got nothing but positive texts from [Schaukowitch], we got positive texts from their players. They were rooting with us 100% just like we were rooting behind them last year.”

Saturday’s CCS championship game was nothing short of a heartbreaker for El Camino. The Colts led twice in the game, including in the top of the sixth when when three straight hits and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Gabe Meriales to jump ahead 2-1.

But the tough infield of Excite Ballpark had the final say as Pacific Grove (17-12-1) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning. After a one-out walk by Andrew Jeska and a single from Andrew Kirk, left-handed hitting Owen Lake hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield right to the third-base bag. El Camino’s third baseman tried to backhand it with visions of an inning-ending double play, but had the ball skip by him and into left field to bring home the tying run.

“It was definitely a tough one,” El Camino shortstop Nick Jang said after having the best view of the play. “Especially, you don’t see that much from lefties. Lefties, you don’t think they’re going to go down the third-base line, and the hop was a rough one.”

Kai Clarkson followed with a squeeze bunt to push across the go-ahead run, and Taj Davis produced an insurance run with and RBI single to left.

El Camino starting pitcher Adrian Iniguez — “Adi” to all his teammates, pronounced like the luxury car “Audi” — finished out the complete game after a gutsy effort, allowing four runs on eight hits, but getting more ground balls as the game wore on.

“I wanted it really bad,” Iniguez said. “You could tell by the way I have tears. I wanted it. It’s my final season. We had a great team. I just wanted to give it my all.”

Jang put a jolt into the El Camino dugout to leadoff the game, as the senior squared up a two-strike fastball to drive a booming double that one-hopped the wall in left.

“[That] got me fired up, honestly,” Iniguez said. “I felt like we’ll have some good momentum going into this. Got the run in. Everything felt good.”

Jang said he didn’t feel like he got all of it.

“I felt it a little, but nothing crazy,” Jang said. “I got down to two strikes on me, but then it looked good and I just swung and it went far.”

Hunter Tamayo followed with a quick RBI single to right field to give the Colts a 1-0 advantage. Tamayo hustled to third on a wild pitch, but the Pacific Grove starting pitcher Davis caught a break on a comebacker, as Tamayo got hung out to dry between third and home for the first out of the inning.

Davis got Pacific Grove back into the dugout trailing by 1, and the Breakers answered back to tie it in the second. North Kirk led off the inning with a double to left, Lake bunted him over — it was one of four bunts on the day for the Breakers — and Clarkson tied it with a bloop single to left to drive home Kirk.

Davis settled it to span four innings to take a no-decision.

“I saw a lot more breaking balls for strikes,” Jang said of his second plate appearance. “And then he was hitting his spots with his fastball too.”

Facing the Pacific Grove bullpen, El Camino junior Carlos Alcala set the table with a leadoff single in the sixth. Iniguez followed with a single. Then McCauley executed a textbook bunt up the third-base line and, with the Breakers looking to third before throwing to first, McCauley beat it out for an infield single to load the bases.

Meriales gave the Colts the lead with a sacrifice fly, but Pacific Grove reliever Charlie Edmonds escaped further damage, bouncing back with a groundout and a strikeout to strand two runners. El Camino got the tying run to the plate in the seventh when Jang got hit by a pitch with one out, but the closer Jeska retired the next two batters with a strikeout and a fly out to cap Pacific Grove’s fifth all-time CCS title, and the program’s first since 2013.

El Camino pitching was on point throughout the CCS tournament. Quentin Bromaghim worked five innings to earn the win in last Tuesday’s opener, an 8-2 victory over Lincoln-San Jose. McCauley then fired a three-hit shutout in Thursday’s 5-0 win over Leland-San Jose in the semifinals. Iniguez saved the opener with two scoreless innings of relief and totaled eight innings in the tournament.

“To only give up six runs in three games, it’s unbelievable,” Ordonez said. “I’ve got to commend my defense, I’ve got to commend the pitchers for pounding the zone. ... Total team effort in that department.”