Half Moon Bay sophomore Paxton Holden fires shutout for first varsity baseball win

“I’ve been throwing [bullpens] in practice,” Holden said. “We have a couple guys, their arms are kind of sore. I told the coach I was good to go, and he put me in, and I was ready.”

In just his fourth pitching appearance of the season, Holden got stronger as the day wore on. He scattered five hits, a walk and two hit batsmen, while striking out three. He also benefitted from two double plays, including an at ’em ball with a man on first, second baseman Maverick Johnson gloved it and threw behind the runner to end the game.

And, like their latest pitching ace, the Cougars are getting stronger as the season winds down. HMB (8-4 PAL Ocean, 14-9 overall) has now won six straight, the program’s best streak since winning seven straight toward the end of the pandemic season of 2021.

“Obviously, every win’s important,” HMB senior Riley Jackson said. “But making it six straight, that’s something I’ve never done here, something none of these boys have done here.”

Every win looms large for HMB, locked in a grueling pennant race in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division. The Cougars remain tied for third place with Terra Nova, who Thursday knocked off first-place Sacred Heart Prep 3-2. Second-place San Mateo now trails SHP by one game in the standings, with HMB and Terra Nova two games back of first, and one behind San Mateo.

Only the top two finishers in the Ocean Division are guaranteed Central Coast Section playoff berths. If the season ended today, the Cougars would have to rely on power points to gain an at-large bid.

“We’re playing our best baseball at the right time,” Cougars manager Brian Anderson said. “And hopefully we get enough points to get in there.”

Holden settled in after his first turn through the Aragon batting order, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. The Cougars caught a break when with a runner on second and one out, Aragon sophomore James Wright hit a rocket to right, but right at the charging right fielder Cole Giannini who threw a strike to first to gun down the batter-runner.

“It was huge,” Anderson said. “Because you hit a line-drive seed, and you end up with an out instead of two runners on base.”

But the Dons (6-6, 14-10) went on to load the bases with an infield single by Alex Gosselin and a walk from Kai Thornton. Holden buckled down, though, to escape the jam with a soft liner to second.

Then in the top of the third, HMB sent nine batters to the plate to put up a 4-spot. No. 9 batter Lane Giannini sparked the rally with his foot speed, tapping a grounder to the left side for the Aragon third baseman to cut across the dirt and make an off-balance throw, only to see Lane Giannini beat it with a bang-bang call at first.

“Frankly, when [the third baseman] got rid of it, I was like: ‘Great play. We’ve got him,’” Aragon manager John Rally said. “We know their 1, 2, 3 (hitters) are all super fast. Did not know the No. 9 hitter was going to be out of the box quite that quickly.”

Jackson then reached on an error, and senior Ian Ehrhardt drove in the first run of the day on an RBI fielder’s choice. Holden and Jacob Couto followed with RBI singles, and junior Alex Ryan capped the rally with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

Jackson made it 6-0 in the fourth with a two-run home run to right-center, lofting the ball to his pull field on a shorter porch than the one the Cougars saw last Friday when they won 3-2 in nine innings against Sequoia at Oracle Park.

“Playing at Oracle, definitely not trying to do that swing,” Jackson said. “But here, you can get away with that stuff.”

Junior center fielder Nick Mazzola paced Aragon with two hits, and reached base in all three of his plate appearances.

“For the first month and a half of the season he was our best hitter,” Rally said. “Cooled off a little bit, but he is an excellent, excellent baserunner and just a really sound hitter. ... He’s been sort of our catalyst most of the year.” 

HMB would have ran away with the win if not for two tremendous running catches by Aragon right fielder Ben Henderson.

“That combo defensively is pretty unbeatable around here,” Rally said. “[Mazzola] is a Gold Glove center fielder. Henderson is only a freshman, and he could easily be playing center field at this level right now. We’re pretty blessed.” 

Holden stole the show with his unexpected gem, though, after entering the day with an 0-2 record in three previous appearances, with just 6 2/3 innings pitched.

“My arm felt good,” Holden said. “We’ve been working on it all year so late in the game your arm feels good. The later innings, everything felt the same. Just kept doing what I was doing.”