San Mateo American Intermediate All-Stars stay alive in Nor Cals

Oscar Osuna continued to shine for the American 13-and-under All-Stars, going 4 for 4 at the plate while also combining on the shutout with 2 2/3 innings of relief work.

“He’s just been hot,” Gordon said. “He’s been our hottest hitter down here.”

Osuna clubbed a bases-loaded double in the third inning as American jumped out to an 8-0 lead. After starting the summer hitting toward the bottom of the order, Osuna found himself hitting in the No. 5 spot Monday.

“I’ve been kind of slowly moving him up and he continues to come through,” Gordon said.

Donovan Friedland earned the win as American’s starting pitcher, firing three shutout innings. It was the first starting pitching assignment of the summer for Friedland, who has been pivotal patrolling the left side of the infield at third base alongside shortstop Sean Kelly.

“He anchors our defense on the left side … so it’s kind of hard to keep him out,” Gordon said. “I’m not ever afraid to use him (as a pitcher) but tonight he was super efficient.”

Friedland was so efficient that Jason Gordon was able to pull him after three innings to keep his pitch count at 31. This is critical to American’s strategy of playing its way through the elimination bracket. Having to conserve pitching arms in order to now play every day in the seven-team tourney, Friedland’s ability to stay under the 35-pitch threshold is the difference of being able to return on one day’s rest instead of two.

“I figured that was perfect,” Gordon said. “He had done his job and now he can come back.”

Kelly closed out the game with one-third inning of relief work.

American fell to the elimination bracket after a crushing 17-7 loss Saturday. American led the game 7-0 heading into the fourth inning but was walloped by the 110-degree-plus temperatures in the afternoon amid a 45-minute inning as Sunnyvale rallied for 17 runs in the fourth.

“Our team completely fell apart,” Gordon said.

American returns to the field Tuesday in Selma to face Grass Valley Little League. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.

“We’ve got to think a few games ahead while also dealing with the game at hand,” Gordon said. “But we might not have that luxury. We might have to ride the hot hand and let it ride.”