Hillsdale, Sequoia suspended

Sequoia scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-2 lead but Hillsdale answered with a 10-run seventh. With the sun done setting, the home-plate umpire suspended the game because of darkness. The two teams will play the bottom of the seventh Thursday before their regularly scheduled Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division game.

Considering how the momentum swung over to the Hillsdale dugout, Sequoia manager Tink Reynoso was glad to see the game suspended.

"We have time to think about [what happened]," Reynoso said. "We need to focus."

Hillsdale, on the other hand, wanted to finish the game. The Knights had taken the field to play the final half inning before the game was called.

"Clearly, we wanted to play the bottom of the seventh," said Hillsdale assistant coach Dave Leary. "We had the momentum."

For six innings, Sequoia starting pitcher Ben Mauldin was on top of his game, holding Hillsdale to two runs on four hits. His best innings were the fifth and the sixth when he set the Knights down in order.

He started the seventh by giving up an infield single to the speedy Josh Green, ending Mauldin's day.

"He was up to a hundred (pitches) and we had to get him out," Reynoso said. "He did an excellent job for us."

The same could not be said for the Cherokees' relievers. Hillsdale scored 10 runs on just two hits in the seventh, taking advantage of five Sequoia errors and four walks.

Tyler Tallman, the first pitcher to relieve Mauldin, did not record an out, but did not get any help. He walked two batters and a third reached on an error.

With the Cherokees nursing a slew of sore arms, Reynoso was forced to bring Thursday's starter, Ben Edelstein, in to relieve Tallman.

Things didn't go much better for Edelstein. He gave up two walks, a two-run single to Jeff Outzen which tied the score at seven, and was the recipient of the other four Sequoia errors in the inning.

"We've been working on not making errors and it caught up with us," Reynoso said.

For Hillsdale, the rally was just another step in the long climb back to the top of the PAL. The Knights, which started the season with three-straight losses, won three consecutive games going into Tuesday. Leary believed the team may have been a bit too confident.

"We didn't underestimate Sequoia, we respect all our opponents, but I think we had an idea that they would throw their hats on the field and win," Leary said.

Before that fateful seventh, Sequoia was doing everything right. The Cherokees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Mauldin led off the inning by scorching a line drive off the shin of Hillsdale starting pitcher Kevin Dunn. After a strikeout, Scott Bassett reached on an error. Another strikeout had Dunn an out away from getting out of the inning unscathed but Matt Gensel came up with a two-out bloop into shallow right field to plate Mauldin.

The Cherokees came up with another two-out rally in the fourth. The first two batters of the inning made outs but Tallman was hit by a 2-0 pitch. He scored from first when Edelstein doubled off the fence in left field and scored himself on a Will Klein single.

Hillsdale scored a run in the third when a Yo Miamoto groundout plated Josh Green, who reached on an infield hit. The Knights held a brief 2-1 lead on a Green RBI single in the top of the fourth.

"Once we had that lead, 2-1, I think they thought their work was done," Leary said.

It appeared Sequoia put the game away in the bottom of the sixth when the Cherokees sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring four runs on six hits against four Hillsdale pitchers. Bassett had the big hit of the inning, a two-run, ground-rule double. Klein and Wade Reynoso also had RBIs in the inning.

Leary said the Knights' comeback was just a glimpse into what the Hillsdale coaching staff believes they can do. Leary said the Knights are capable of winning any number of ways.

"We told this team before the first preseason game that this is a team that can win from any angle," Leary said.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.