Menlo magic: Knights walk off South City, surge into CCS finals

“I like to be pretty aggressive early in the count,” Rogers said. “I knew I had to do a job, coming up there not having a hit yet, definitely in my head. But you’ve just got to put all of that aside and get it done for the team because they deserved it.”

Menlo (20-9) now advances to the CCS Division VI finals to face Lincoln-San Jose in Thursday’s championship game at Excite Ballpark. It is the Knights’ first trip to the CCS finals since 2017, their 10th all-time, and the first in the career of manager David Trujillo.

“I’ve never been to a CCS championship, so I’m super excited,” Trujillo said. “The couple times I’ve been (to the playoffs) I’ve lost in the first round. So, we’re pumped. We had a great group, and we’re just getting started.”

In terms of dramatics, the semifinal game is going to be tough to top. The back-and-forth battle saw South City (22-6) jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the second. Menlo swung ahead with a three-run third and, after the Warriors tied it in the of the fourth, swung back ahead with two runs in the bottom of the frame.

The Warriors died hard though, as everyone knew they would. South City is wrapping up a historic 2023-24 school year, with the football team, in just its second year back on the field since folding its varsity program in 2021, capturing a miracle CCS Division V title in the fall, the program’s first ever. The baseball team, making its first CCS appearance since 2014, was looking to cap off the school year with its first-ever section title.

So, when South City scored single runs in the sixth and seventh, it looked like Big Blue might just make another miracle happen — until Rogers and the Knights played spoiler.

“There’s a lot of emotions down there with the end of the season,” Warriors manager Matt Schaukowitch said. “Especially for the seniors, this was their last games. But there’s nothing to be hanging their heads about. We played, we competed, and we did the best we could. Today we just didn’t come out on the right end of it.”

South City starting pitcher Emilio Oseguera endured a rough day on the mound. The sophomore right-hander departed after four innings with his team trailing 5-3. But, after the Warriors closed it to 5-4 in the sixth on Jacob Nabung’s booming RBI double, Oseguera got a chance at a reprieve batting with one out in the top of the seventh.

Oseguera roped a liner up the left-center gap, and had every South City fan in attendance gasping as he stretched it into a triple with a headlong dive into third.

“I think after him getting pulled out of the game and us being down, there was one out and we decided to go ahead and wheel it and see what happens,” Schaukowitch said.

The extra 90 feet loomed large, as cleanup hitter Giovanni Bernal delivered a sacrifice fly to deep left. But Menlo reliever Jackson Flanagan weathered the storm and got his offense back in the dugout with the game tied 5-5. Flanagan worked two innings in relief of starter Ben Salama.

“We have three pitchers that have led us all year,” Trujillo said. “We have two starters and then Flanagan, whose been our absolute horse in the bullpen. He doesn’t throw the hardest, but he is an out machine. So, I just went out and talked to him and just settled him down a little bit. He made a really good pitch to that guy that hit the triple. That pitch was at his ankles.”

South City got production up and down its order. In the second, No. 9 hitter Gabe Martin drove in a pair of runs, then added an RBI single in the fourth. Nabung and senior Owen Keith had two hits apiece. But it was Keith’s fortitude to remain in the game after running into the bullpen wall in foul territory the defined the day for South City and, in many ways, personified everything the school’s athletics department has been through in recent years.

Keith was pursuing a foul fly in the third inning, and was running full speed when he collided with the waist-high fence, then collapsed to the ground in pain.

“I didn’t see the fence,” Keith said. “It’s like waist height. So, I looked quickly and didn’t see anything. Focused in on the foul ball and just trying to get it, and right before it went in my glove I saw the fence, tried to stop, but my whole ankle rolled as I took the hit.”

Keith remained in the game, but got tested right away. With one run in on a Garret Tran RBI single, and two runners on, Jake Sonsini drove a ball to deep left that left Keith limping after it as it sailed over his head and all the way to the wall for a two-run double.

“I was definitely feeling it,” Keith said. “I wasn’t running as fast as I could but I tried my best.”

Keith persevered, though. And after Menlo’s Renner Barnett made it 5-3 with a two-run double to deep right in the fourth, it was Keith’s infield single in the sixth that sparked South City’s late surge. The senior legged out a slow grounder to short for the single, then motored to second when the shortstop’s throw flew wide of first, setting the stage to score from second on Nabung’s double.

“He’s probably one of the toughest kids on this team,” Schaukowtich said. “He ran into that fence full steam. Every year he gives you the best he can. And I feel sorry for the fence. He jammed up his ankle pretty good but he’s a tough kid and he stayed in the game.”

Menlo, though, won the day. Salama also got a reprieve after walking off the mound disappointed with five-plus innings of work. The junior started the game-winning rally with one out, scorching a single back through the middle. Salama moved to second on a passed ball, and the No. 9 hitter Flanagan coaxed a four-pitch walk.

After South City reliever Vince Bernal got the second out on a weak grounder to first — in what was the longest outing of the year with 2 2/3 innings of work for the freshman reliever — Rogers stepped to the plate in the midst of an 0-for-4 day, only the to play the hero.

“It’s definitely a mental game,” Rogers said. “So, just trying to battle through that, knowing that every at-bat’s a chance, and in baseball you always get a second chance. That’s what’s so beautiful about the sport.”