San Mateo plants loss on Farmers

"[Thursday's win] was absolutely vital," said San Mateo coach Tony Chavez. "I told (the team) we had to get to 4-4. We've played a tough preseason to get ready for league."

Although the Bearcats did not exactly pound the ball - they scored three runs on four hits and took advantage of four Farmer errors - they didn't need a whole lot of offense the way Andrew Cheung was pitching. Using a fastball and a changeup, Cheung held Hayward (0-4) to just two hits over seven innings of work. He struck out seven and gave up the only run when the Farmers pulled off a delayed double steal and the runner from third slid under the catcher's tag.

"[Cheung's] performance was awesome," Chavez said. "He hadn't pitched in about a week. I was hoping to get four innings out of him."

It was Cheung's second strong outing of the season, made all the more surprising considering Chavez didn't know if Cheung was going to join the rotation.

"He wasn't sure if he wanted to pitch," Chavez said. "I told him since he was our only lefty to just give it a shot."

The way Cheung was pitching, the Bearcats needed only a few runs to record the win. They took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third, due in large part to a Hayward error. With one out, Anthony Asp singled and went to third on a C.J. Easter single, who then stole second. Chris Chinn followed with a routine grounder to third, but the Hayward third baseman threw the ball away for a two-run error.

Hayward cut the lead in half when the Farmers scored their only run in the top of the fourth. San Mateo got the run back in the bottom of the fifth. Asp led off with a single to center and then stole second. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an Angel Hernandez sacrifice fly to center.

"We're not real offensive so we have to work on situational hitting," Chavez said. "We have enough pitching and defense."