San Mateo American storms into Section 3 finals

American rallied for it’s sixth straight win to open the summer All-Stars season Sunday with a 5-0 victory in the Section 3 tournament over host Bollinger Canyon at Athan Downs Park. With the win, American advances to the championship round through the winners’ bracket of the quick four-team tournament.

Three pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout, with right-handers Jagger O’Brien, Christopher Moreno and Matthew Ward each staying under the 50-pitch mark. This is significant, as it keeps them all eligible to pitch on two days’ rest. American will have all its pitchers available — including O’Brien, who was electric through 2 1/3 innings as Sunday’s starter — to open Tuesday’s championship round, first pitch slated for 5:30 p.m.

“Jagger threw great,” Moreno said. “He throws gas. Nobody can touch him. So, it’s pretty cool coming in after him because you’ve got a lot of confidence coming in.”

San Mateo American manager Jason Gordon opted to gamble by turning to his bullpen with one out in the third inning. O’Brien handed the ball to Moreno amid a scoreless tie, with Bollinger Canyon countering with its own dynamic right-hander in Frankie Giglio.

“The score didn’t matter,” Gordon said. “This tournament’s quick. You need your pitchers. We can’t go into the championship with our best pitcher not eligible to pitch. We were going to pull him at 50 no matter what.”

Moreno has seen a resurgence in the Section 3 tournament after throwing just one pitch in the District 52 tourney. The right-hander was limited to one appearance, in the championship game of the district tournament, after recovering from an ankle fracture that cost him the second half of his regular season. He has now pitched both games of the section tournament, firing one inning as Saturday’s starter in the opening game, an 11-0 mercy-rule win over Mt. Eden.

Pitching back-to-back days proved no problem for Moreno, who notched the win through 2 1/3 hitless innings of work. The right-hander did give Gordon a scare, though, hitting Bollinger Canyon’s Dylan Turner with the first pitch he threw.

“He hit the first batter, we were kind of second-guessing ourself,” Gordon said. “He’s been out for two months. He hasn’t thrown. So, we were kind of thinking two days in a row might be a little much. After that, he was frickin’ lights out.”

O’Brien didn’t let a ball out of the infield, pumping a dominant fastball to record five strikeouts and two groundouts, while allowing two infield singles. He pitched through trouble in the second, standing two baserunners. Bollinger Canyon wouldn’t record another hit until the sixth against Ward, who was summoned to protect a 5-0 lead.

Giglio traded zeroes with American until the fourth, when O’Brien delivered again, this time at the plate. The big No. 3 hitter roped a two-run single through the left side to stake his team to a 2-0 lead. It turned out to be the only runs American would need.

The top of the American batting order set the table via the small-ball attack. Milo Werner reached on a one-out infield single. Hudson Wong followed with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt up the third-base line, capitalizing on a slight bobble by the third baseman to reach base safely.

“He’s the best bunter I’ve ever coached in my life,” Gordon said. “If he gets it down and the third baseman isn’t up in his grill, there’s no chance of getting him. He is an absolute sneak-attack weapon there.”

Wong was the last batter Giglio faced before Bollinger Canyon went to its bullpen, but American’s No. 2 hitter wasn’t done showing off his wheels as Wong scored all the way from first base on O’Brien’s single. Werner scored easily from second on the play, but as the throw came into the infield, Wong took a big turn around third and opted to go for broke, despite Gordon, the third-base coach, trying to hold him up.

“He told me to go at first, and then I was a quarter of the way to home,” Wong said, “and then he said: ‘Back! Back! Back!’ By then it was too late because, to go back, I might have gotten back-picked. Plus, I kind of knew that run counted. So then, I knew that I could probably make it home, so I just went.”

Moreno finished out his pitching line in the top of the fifth, notching his third strikeout and recording the first two outs of the inning. He departed after issuing a two-out walk to Nathan Babione, but Ward entered to retire the side with a swinging strikeout.

Then the American offense added on in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times, thanks to a clutch two-run double by William Meza. American set the table with Connor Workman and Pono Rosenberg reaching back-to-back to open the inning. Workman scalded a leadoff single to left, and Rosenberg was plunked in the bill of the helmet to reach on a hit batsman. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch to give American two runners in scoring position with no outs.

Bollinger Canyon’s bullpen responded with back-to-back strikeouts, but Meza picked up his American teammates big time, socking a long two-run double that nestled just fair down the left-field line.

“He was hunting a fastball,” Workman said. “We were a little inconsistent being really patient today, being a little bit passive. But he came in the box aggressive and it paid off.”

Meza was hunting base-running opportunities as well, moving around to score the game’s final run by advancing to third on a passed ball, and home on a wild pitch.

Bollinger Canyon threatened in the sixth with Eric Reynoso opening the inning with an infield single, and Trent Lawrence following with a double. But Moreno’s arm bailed American out of trouble again, this time with a throw from left field, as he retrieved Lawrence’s double and fired to Workman at third to catch the lead runner, who rounded the base too far and couldn’t scurry back fast enough as Workman slapped the tag on him for the first out of the inning.

Ward retired the final two batters in order.

American now needs just one more win to advance to the NorCal Tournament, opening this coming Saturday in Madera. American, having advanced through the winners’ bracket, must be defeated twice to be denied the title. They will face the winner of Monday’s elimination game between Bollinger Canyon and Mt. Eden.