More Menlo magic: Knights rally into Nor Cal finals

No. 1-seed Menlo (23-9) rallied back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie it in the sixth. Then in extra innings, senior Garrett Tran — the day before walking in Friday’s graduation ceremony at Menlo School — singled home Luke Rogers for the walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth.

“Garrett Tran the legend, of course, walking it off,” Rogers said.

Menlo stormed the middle of the diamond to celebrate the walk-off win, the team’s ninth straight victory dating back to April 30. It also marked the second straight inning the Knights enjoyed a raucous celebration, after believing they’d won in the bottom of the eighth, only to have the apparent walk-off run waved off.

The dramatic turn of events in the eighth was set up when Tran reached on an infield error to lead off the frame. After Tran moved around to third on two straight groundouts, Oakland Tech intentionally walked the bases loaded. Then with two outs, and a two-ball, two-strike count on No. 9 hitter Jackson Flanagan, Tran channeled his inner Rickey Henderson and inexplicably broke for the plate with the pitch.

Thankfully for Tran’s well-being, Flanagan did not swing at the fastball offering from Bulldogs reliever Hayden Burton, leaving him to slide headlong across the plate without a play from the Oakland Tech catcher. But as the Knights flooded out of the dugout to celebrate near the backstop, the home plate umpire, like something out of a movie, waved off the run after calling strike three for the third out of the inning.

“Credit to my catcher, he just stayed there and stuck it,” Bulldogs manager Chris McClarty said, “because I thought the pitch was middle-middle. I thought it was a strike right away and he just held it there. So, the call came kind of late, but my catcher kept his poise and just kept the glove right in the zone ... and we ended up getting the call.”

Tran said he sensed the call was going against Menlo almost immediately.

“I saw the other team kind of celebrating, and I was like: ‘Oh shoot! They might have called it back for some reason; they might have called it a strike,’” Tran said. “And from that moment on, I was like: ‘Well, it’s fine if we don’t really get the run here. We have the momentum [with] us.’”

The momentum was certainly on Menlo’s side, much in part to the pitching tandem of junior Ben Salama and senior Ryan Schnell.

Salama recovered from a rough start to deliver seven strong innings. Oakland Tech got on the board in the first by virtue of walks top Brandon Hemphill and Elijah Rucker, followed by an infield throwing error on a slow bounder off the bat of Burton allowing Hemphill to score. In the second, the Bulldogs manufactured a run after Vernard Scott led off with a grip-and-rip double up the right-center gap. A quirky come-backer moved Scott to third, and he scored on a groundout by No. 9 hitter Mohamed Mohamed to make it 2-0.

Then Salama settled in, retiring 11 batters in order. He finished the day allowing two runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batsman while striking out five to take a no-decision.

“It was one of his best performances of the year, for sure,” Knights manager David Trujillo said. “He just was throwing tons of strikes. ... If he has fastball command, it’s going to be a good day.”

Salama got some help from his defense in the sixth. Gyasi Rapier led off the inning with a single to center then promptly stole second. Rucker followed with a grounder to shortstop Jack Freehill, advancing Rapier to third; only when Rapier rounded the third-base bag, Freehill smartly threw behind him to get the out with Rapier diving back on a bang-bang play.

Oakland Tech (19-7) ultimately stranded two baserunners in the inning, and Menlo rode the momentum to a game-tying rally in the bottom of the inning.

Bulldogs starting pitcher Elias Thompson had been brilliant to that point. The sophomore right-hander worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit on a third-inning double by Jake Sonsini. But he walked Freehill and Mikey McGrath back-to-back to start the sixth. Then back-to-back infield errors opened the door for Freehill and Tran to score to tie it 2-2.

“The momentum aspect is so important,” Tran said. “When you get a 1-2-3 inning, it really fuels your offense, because it feels like you are on the offensive.”

Then in the seventh, Menlo got some help from a questionable call at third base that cost Oakland Tech a bases-loaded, one-out situation. With two on and one out, Hemphill hit a topper to Tran at third. Tran gloved it in the base path, forcing Mohamed to veer around him to avoid a collision. Tran missed the tag, and Mohamed curled around him to get to the third-base bag with a nimble head-first slide. Mohamed was called out for running out of the baseline, however, for the second out of the inning.

“He missed the tag but [the umpire] said that the runner was out of the base path,” McClarty said. “Don’t know how that goes. ... All I know is I was trying to tell him that if he runs straight, they run right into each other because he’s catching the ... ball. ... So, I was kind of protesting that — one, he missed the tag and — two, how was he out of the base path if he has to get around?

“I definitely disagreed with the call,” he said. “But all in all, we had some key errors that beat ourselves.”

That’s when Flanagan in left field bailed out Menlo big time. Rapier squared up Salama’s final pitch of the day, drilling a line shot to left that looked ticketed to fly over Flanagan’s head. But the sophomore got a good first step and timed a leap even better to snag the liner with full extension to retire the side.

Schnell entered in relief in the eighth, the first time Menlo’s workhorse has pitched out of the bullpen all season. He set down the first five batters he faced, and navigated a two-out walk in the ninth by notching his second strikeout with a big, bending curveball.

“You can put [Schnell] in any situation and he’ll thrive,” Rogers said. “That’s what he’s born for. He loves the adversity, loves coming in in these situations where he’s not use to. ... He wants it.”

Then in the ninth, Schnell went full-on madman on the base paths. Menlo’s leading hitter opened the frame with his second hit of the day, a soft looper that nestled in left field. Only Rogers refused to stop at first base and, with the Oakland Tech left fielder playing just a step or two deeper in prevent-doubles defense, Rogers capitalized on the extra space by streaking into second to just beat the tag for a leadoff double.

“Sometimes you’ve got to risk it for the biscuit,” Rogers said. “I had a single in one of the other extra innings (in a previous game) and I got thrown out at second, so coming back I knew I had to put something on the line to get the win.”

Rogers seemed to be the only person in the yard that thought he could stretch it to second.

“We were all honestly really scared when he rounded first,” Tran said. “But he’s quick. ... He kind of knew. His instincts were right. And I think that was huge for the game.”

Freehill followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Rogers to third, and Freehill made some magic with a hustle play of his own, reaching first base on an infield throwing error when the throw took the first baseman into the base path, and Freehill ran through the glove to jar the ball loose. With runners at the corners and no outs, Oakland Tech issued an intentional walk to McGrath to load the bases.

Tran — coming to the plate sitting on an 0-for-4 day — then delivered the game-winning single to set off the celebration, for reals.

“I knew when it left the bat,” Tran said, “because it was kind of off the end, and I knew it was going to fall.”

Menlo now advances to the Nor Cal Division III championship game. The Knights’ eight seniors walk for graduation Friday, then return Saturday to Cartan Baseball Field to host No. 2 Woodland Christian. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Since capturing the Central Coast Section Division VI championship May 23 with a 3-1 come-from-behind win over Lincoln-San Jose, the Knights have advanced through the Nor Cal tourney with an 8-0 win over Redding Christian and another comeback with Thursday over Oakland Tech.

“It’s more just playoff atmosphere,” Trujillo said. “They’ve totally flipped some kind of switch. And having more kids in the dugout, the dugout intensity, it’s just pitch to pitch they’re in it. And they refuse to lose. They’ve got grit ... and we’re just refusing to lose.”