Sacred Heart Prep baseball edges Woodside in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division opener

There wasn’t a lot of offense and in the end, it was the Gators who strung together a couple of hits to drive in the game’s only run in the top of fourth inning in a 1-0 win.

“It’s never easy,” said SHP manager Sean McMillan. “It’s fun, but they’re nerve-wracking.”

Yes. SHP (1-0 PAL Ocean, 5-2-1 overall) batted in the top of the fourth inning despite the game being played on the Gators’ home field. SHP has one of the few all-artificial turf baseball facilities around, so the teams decided to play both games this week at SHP. Woodside was the home team in Wednesday’s opener, SHP will bat last in Thursday’s rematch.

The Wildcats nearly used that last at-bat to its fullest as they came within inches of tying the game in the bottom of the seventh.

It took a great, heads-up play from SHP center fielder Max Courson to keep Woodside (0-1, 5-1-1) off the scoreboard. Woodside’s Braiden Boswell led off the inning and blasted a ball to deep left field that twisted up the SHP left fielder and left Boswell on second with a leadoff double.

With pinch runner Riley Ferrario taking over at second and one out, Vincent Vazquez came up and hit a chopper up the middle. It looked destined for center field, but second baseman Andrew Rocha ranged far to his right and managed to knock the ball down, with it trickling away from him.

Woodside manager Dan Rogers, who was serving as the Wildcats’ third-base coach, sent Ferrario home.

But Courson was backing up the play. He fielded the ball in shallow center and fired a strike to catcher Mason Chetcuti, who applied the tag for the second out of the inning.

Vazquez went to second on the play, but was stranded when SHP starter Devin Saltzgaber struck out the final batter looking to earn his fourth win of the season.

“I thought it was up the middle,” Saltzgaber said. “[Courson] made a great throw and [Chetcuti] made a great tag.”

Saltzgaber, a sophomore, is making a statement early in the season to be in contention for pitcher of the year. In five appearances, four starts, Saltzgaber has yet to surrender an earned run. Wednesday was just his latest stellar start. He went the distance in an economical 87 pitches, allowing just four hits and walking only one while striking out seven.

He doesn’t overwhelm the opposition. He doesn’t blow away opposing batters, but Saltzgaber knows how to pitch.

“His changeup is really good and he can throw all three (of his) pitches for strikes,” McMillan said. “He worked really hard in the offseason. He’s confident.”

A baseball-only athlete, Saltzgaber credits the work he puts in during the fall and winter for helping him get off to a strong start.

“I get an early head start,” Saltzgaber said. “I get all that extra time (to get ready for baseball season).”

Saltzgaber needed to be at his best because Woodside starter, senior Chris Fancher, was just as impressive. With a quirky delivery and sweeping right arm, Fancher kept the Gators off balance through his six innings of work, allowing just three hits. He had to work around a trio of walks, as well as a pair of errors in the fifth, to keep the deficit at just one run.

“[Fancher] was outstanding,” McMillan said. “We were lucky to get one across on him.”

But the Gators strung together two of their three hits to scratch out a run in the top of the fourth. Tyler Wong led off the inning with a booming double to the fence in right field for the first hit of the game. He went to third on a Conrad Wilber groundout and scored on Daniel Gee’s chopper that got through the hole between third and short for the 1-0 lead.

From there, it was up to Saltzgaber to shut down the Wildcats.

“I made sure one run was enough,” Saltzgaber said.

Saltzgaber did now allow a hit until Evan Chad stroked a solid single to right to lead off the fourth inning. With one out, Chad moved to third on a groundout to second to bring up Fancher.

He jumped on the first Saltzgaber offering, hitting it on the screws — right at SHP third baseman Connor Schmalzle, who scooped it up and tagged out Chad as he tried to go to third to end the threat.

“I loved the way we competed on the mound and defensively,” McMillan said. “[Saltzgaber] shut it down for us.”