Sacred Heart Prep baseball season ended by Aptos in first round of Central Coast Section Division III bracket

And in the end, the Mariners did it better than the Gators. Fifth-seeded Aptos scratched out three runs against Gators’ starter Rallin Covey and kept the SHP bats in check as the Mariners knocked off fourth-seeded SHP 3-1 in the first round Saturday in Atherton.

“We didn’t play clean defense,” said SHP manager Sean McMillan. “To keep it 3-1 was outstanding.”

With one of the better 1-2 starting pitcher punches in Covey and Kyle Sweeney, SHP (20-8), the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division champs, was set up to make a deep run. And Covey certainly did his part. The senior, who is committed to play at University of Southern California and had an ERA of just over one run per start this season, was on point. He worked 6 1/3 innings, wiggling out of error-induced jams all game long and certainly gave his team a chance to win. Only two of the runs were allowed as he struck out eight and walked three as he allowed only four hits.

“[Covey] gave us a chance,” McMillan said.

Early on, it looked like the SHP defense was also on point. Aptos’ Dom Castillo drew a leadoff walk to start the game to bring up Alec Mendoza, who was looking to move Castillo into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.

His attempt bounced once in front of the plate, with SHP catcher Nico Pollioni pouncing on it before it went foul, firing a strike to shortstop Thomas Barton covering second to begin a 2-6-3 double play. A groundout on the next pitch got Covey out of the inning.

But that double play was one of the few defensive highlights for the Gators, who gave away a run in the top of the second. Aptos’ Damien Espinoza led off the second with a single to left, followed by a single to right from James Reilley.

But when the Gators could not cleanly handle the throw from right field to the infield, Espinoza took third to put runners on the corners. The Mariners scored two pitches later on a Jacob Kissinger groundout.

Covey got to 0-2 on the next batter before plunking Finn Cormier in the helmet. But instead of getting rattled, Covey bore down, striking out the next two batters to end the inning and limit the damage.

“Defensively, we weren’t clean and that put us in a hole,” McMillan said.

But nothing topped Covey’s escape act in the top of the fourth, with his defense throwing the ball all over the field. Covey started the fourth with two quick strikes to Espinoza, before he hit a swinging bunt that trickled toward third base. But the throw to first sailed past the first baseman and Espinoza went to second. That was followed by a fielder’s choice that saw Espinoza take third and he tried to score on a Kissinger grounder.

But Kissinger hit a comebacker to Covey, who threw to Pollioni to cut down Espinoza at the plate for the first out of the inning. He then got some help from centerfielder Chase Affrunti, who made a diving catch for the second out and a Covey strikeout looking got him out of the inning unscathed, as he delivered a huge fist pump and yell walking off the mound.

“[Covey] handled adversity really well,” McMillan said.

But the Gators were still down 1-0 and didn’t have a lot to show against Aptos starting pitcher Cole McGillicuddy, who was just as dominant as Covey. McGillicuddy also worked into the seventh inning, also walking three while striking out seven and scattering four hits, as well.

He struck out the first two SHP batters he faced before the Gators started a potential two-out rally. Drew Parker drew a two-out walk and stole second. With Colin Beim at the plate, McGillicuddy unleashed a wild pitch that moved Parker to third. Beim eventually walked and stole second to put runners on second and third, but McGillicuddy got out of the jam with a comebacker.

Those would be the only runners the Gators got into scoring position until finally pushing across a run in the fifth. JP Durrett gave SHP its first hit in the second, a leadoff single to right. But after a strikeout and flyout, he was erased at second on a force out on a dynamite play from Aptos shortstop Mendoza, who ranged far to his left, made a dive behind the second-base bag to make the grab and quickly underhanded a toss to second baseman Castillo to get Durrett for the final out of the inning.

“We had good, hard contact, but they were right at guys,” McMillan said. “[McGillicuddy] had both his fastball and curveball landing for strikes. Good pitchers can get swings and misses.”

Covey could not escape trouble in the fifth, however, as Aptos (14-8) added two more insurance runs as the Mariners sent eight batters to the plate. Castillo led off the inning with the hardest hit ball of the day, drilling a triple to the base of the fence in center field. He scored on a Mendoza grounder to third, just beating the throw home to put the Mariners up 2-0. Aptos eventually loaded the bases and Kissinger picked up his second RBI of the day by drawing a walk to put Aptos up 3-0.

The Gators finally scratched out a run in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Barton reached on an infield hit and stole second. After a groundout for the second out of the inning, Affrunti came through with an RBI single, but was quickly thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

The Gators also got a leadoff single to open the bottom of the sixth, but he was thrown out at second. SHP was 3 for 5 on stolen bases as McMillan was stuck between a rock and hard place. Most teams aren’t looking to steal while trailing on the scoreboard, but given the Gators’ lack of offense Saturday, he was trying to do anything to spark a rally.

“We’ve been a high stealing team all season,” McMillan said. “We’re always going to try and put pressure on defenses.”

The Gators got a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the seventh to finally end McGillicuddy’s day, but they could get no further as reliever Kissinger got the final three outs to notch the save and end the Gators’ season.

“In CCS, it’s all about momentum,” McMillan said. “You have to be able to throw some punches and they threw more than we did.”