The Sacred Heart Prep Gators have earned several wins in their last at-bats this season. But none have been nearly as dramatic as Saturday’s 11-9 non-league baseball victory at the King’s Academy.
Nolan Wilbur
Trailing by four runs heading into the top of the seventh inning, the Gators rallied for six runs in their final AB, highlighted by a game-tying two-run double by Nolan Wilbur and a go-ahead RBI single by Tyler Wong.
And the Gators (7-10) had to survive quite the gut-punch in the sixth. After trailing five runs heading into the fifth inning, SHP chipped away to narrow the deficit to 6-5 in the top of the sixth. But in the bottom of the frame, TKA’s Jaden Arad connected for a booming three-run home run to right.
“In the bottom of the sixth, that was kind of a killer for us,” Gators manager Sean McMillan said.
Despite having their backs against the wall, the Gators proved they still had life left. After freshman Devin Saltzgaber got hit by a pitch to open the inning, the next two SHP batters made outs. Then the comeback came roaring to life.
Kevin Carney singled, followed by RBI knocks from Mason Chetcuti and Luke Renert. Then Wilbur stepped to the plate determined to extend the inning for on-deck hitter Tyler Wong.
“What I was really thinking about was getting Tyler Wong up,” Wilbur said. “He’s so much better than me. He’s a junior and he just hits the ball so hard and so far. I just knew if I got on base we were going to win.”
Wilbur was right on the money. But it was his two-run double that set off the initial celebration in the Gators’ dugout.
“They went nuts,” McMillan said. “They knew as he’s running the bases, that’s the tying run … so everyone was on the fence. They were ready to go.”
Then Wong delivered the go-ahead single, flaring a hit over the second baseman’s head. Wilbur was running on contact and said there was no doubt he was going to try to score.
“I knew instantly I was going home,” Wilbur said. “It was kind of a close play and I just tried to slide as hard as I could, and I just got there a little ahead of the ball. And thank God.”
Andrew Rocha followed with an RBI single to score Wong with a vital insurance run, as there was more drama to come in the bottom of the seventh. And Wilbur was right in the middle of that drama as well.
It had been a busy week for Wilbur. The senior pitched 3 2/3 innings Tuesday in a 9-8 loss to Harker. He then entered in relief Saturday, working four innings, with his only blemish the three-run homer the previous inning. But he had to battle through a bases-loaded jam to close it out.
The left-hander earned to strikeouts to start the inning. But then an infield error opened the door for a TKA (6-12-1) rally. Trevor Burgett followed with a single and Grayson Cassara walked to load them up. McMillan, though, opted to stay with Wilbur to face one more batter.
“He’s our guy,” McMillan said. “He’s a senior, a left-handed arm and he’s proven himself all year. … It comes down to he’s a guy we trust.”
Wilbur closed it out by inducing a groundball to short, prompting another Gators celebration in the middle of the infield.
“They were fired up,” McMillan said. “They were all over Nolan. You could tell it was a team effort because they didn’t just charge after one guy after the last out. … They all felt that win.”
SHP has won three other games in the final inning: March 1 with a two-run rally to top Riordan 9-8; March 17 with a run in the top of the eighth to beat Woodside 8-7 in extra innings; and March 22 with another extra-inning win, scoring a run in the bottom of the eighth to down rival Menlo School 6-5.
Saturday’s win was the Gators’ first against a Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division team this season. SHP been part of the upper Bay Division for the previous 11 years until falling to the PAL Ocean Division in 2022. SHP loaded its non-league schedule with Bay Division opponents this season but lost its first five of these matchups.
“We have a fairly heavy schedule when it comes to playing teams that are so-called above us,” McMillan said. “But we’re just focused on winning the day, winning every pitch.”
The Gators are currently in the thick of the PAL Ocean Division race, sitting in second place, one game back of first-place Half Moon Bay. And while we haven’t quite reached the midway point of the 14-game league schedule, the Ocean Division already seems destined to boil down to the final week of the regular season, featuring a two-game series between SHP and HMB.
“We’re thinking it’s going to come down to our last two games against Half Moon Bay,” Wilbur said. “We’re already ready for that.”
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