Sequoia baseball doubles up Capuchino, winning the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division meeting, 12-6

Capuchino, meanwhile, was looking for any kind of spark. Already 0-4 in Bay play, the Mustangs have to start worrying about staying in the division for the 2027 season.

And in the end, Sequoia stayed in contention as the Ravens used three big innings to propel them to a 12-6 win in San Bruno.

“We came out and put a five-spot up in the first inning with some hard-hit balls,” said Sequoia manager Mike Doyle. “We’ve been swinging it good.”

Sequoia (3-2 PAL Bay, 10-4 overall) added three more in fourth and then broke the game open with four more runs in top of the sixth. And it was the top half of the Ravens’ batting order that did the bulk of the damage.

Leadoff hitter Luke Ostrander, No. 2 Cole Hymer, No. 3 hitter Morgan Winfield, cleanup batter Nolan Fausto and No. 5 hitter Mario Fausto combined to reach base in 17 of 23 plate appearances, drove in 10 and scored 11 of the 12 runs.

Doyle said when things are going good for the Ravens, the top half of the order is firing on all cylinders. Ostrander had only one hit in three at-bats, but he was on base in four of his five plate appearances. He was hit by a pitch twice, reached on an error and singled. He ended up scoring three times.

Hymer scored twice, going 1 for 2 with a sacrifice fly for an RBI; Winfield went 1 for 3, just missing a home run, scoring twice — with courtesy runner Jackson Tetley adding a third. Mario Fausto was 2 for 3, with a double, two runs driven in a a run scored.

But the game belong to Nolan Fausto in the cleanup spot. The senior designated hitter went 2 for 5, driving in a game-high six runs.

And it was his three-run homer in the top of the first that was the big blow in that five-run inning. Ostrander and Hymer both reached base by getting hit by pitches to lead off the game. That brought up Winfield, who hit a towering drive to deep center field. The Capuchino centerfielder could never quite get a bead on the ball in the swirling winds and the ball fell for an RBI double.

That brought Nolan Fausto to the plate with runners on second and third. On a 1-1 pitch he hit a ball to a similar spot as Winfield had — but Fausto got all it, hitting it just to the left of the 350-foot sign.

“When the top of the lineup gets on base, with Morgan and the Fausto brothers following? That’s tough (for an opposing pitcher),” Doyle said.

Ostrander was also a terror on the bases, swiping five of the Ravens’ nine stolen bases on the day.

“We work hard on base running in practice,” Doyle said. “We treat as the special teams of baseball.”

But Capuchino (0-5, 10-7) started chipping away. The Mustangs got on the board in the bottom of the second when William Ferreira led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and then hustled home on James Ayoob’s swinging bunt that didn’t get further than 10 feet up the third-base line.

But Ferreira managed to beat the play to plate and Capuchino was down 5-1.

The Mustangs added two more in the third when Siaosi Kupu led off the inning with a single and then came all the way around to score when leadoff hitter Jordan Estrella singled in front of the Sequoia centerfielder, who could not keep the ball in front of him. That enabled Kupu to score and Estrella to take two more bases and end up on third. He ended up scoring on a wild pitch and the Mustangs were back in the game, down just 5-3.

Sequoia got a little more breathing room in the top of the fourth, scoring three more runs for an 8-3 advantage. Hymer had a sacrifice fly to drive in Garrett Johnson before Nolan Fausto came through with a two-run single.

The Ravens then all but put the game away with a four-run sixth. Nolan Fausto collected his sixth RBI of the game when, with the bases loaded, hit a dribbler up the first-base line that the Mustangs couldn’t handle.

Then it was Mario Fausto’s turn to get in on the fun as he followed with a two-run single to put Sequoia up 12-3.

Capuchino would score three runs against the Sequoia bullpen in its final at-bat. Those 12 runs, however, made a winner of Johnson, who worked 4 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs while scattering six hits.

“He’s a mentally tough kid,” Doyle said. “He always gives us a chance (to win). He gives us a sense of comfort.”