Sequoia baseball rides perfect start into PAL Ocean Division play

Prior to the cancelation of the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sequoia — under former manager Corey Uhalde — owned an impressive 4-1 record. The only team in the Ocean Division that fared better was Half Moon Bay at 5-0-1. Tuesday’s PAL opener sees Half Moon Bay travel to Sequoia for scheduled a 4 p.m. first pitch.

“We start league play [Tuesday] against a really good Half Moon Bay team,” Doyle said. “One of the things about our division this year … we have two of the best teams in the PAL, with Half Moon Bay and M-A in our division. I expect them to both be really, really good this year as well.”

But Sequoia has the air of a team of destiny. Of the 10 core seniors, many of them have played together since before their 15-year-old Colt League season with a summer team coached by Doyle.

“Those kids — and it’s a special group of kids — they’ve played together for many years, predating when they came to Sequoia,” Doyle said. “They’ve played travel ball together … for the last six or seven years. So, they know each other very well. And it’s really made our jobs easier on the coaching staff.”

If they weren’t believers heading into Saturday’s final non-league tune-up, they should be now.

The Ravens won a fun one 9-3 at Aragon, scoring all nine of their runs in the first inning. The Sequoia lineup — batting .297 as team this season — not only batted around, each of the first nine batters reached base. Senior No. 2 hitter Max McClellan, in his second plate appearance of the inning, made the first out, and this with a sacrifice fly to score the ninth run of the frame.

Needless to say, the Sequoia dugout was buzzing with life.

“It was absolutely,” Doyle said. “It was great energy”

The inning started with three straight walks to seniors Kai Holm, McClellan and Ben Singler. Cleanup hitter JP Boyle then shot a two-run double down the right-field line. And Dillon Goetz followed with a two-run double to make it 4-0.

Rocky Knuedler then produced the first of four straight Ravens singles, with Rene Pena, Anton Berljafa and Sammy Haslam following to turn over the batting order. Holm, in his second plate appearance of the inning, walked again. Then McClellan produced a sacrifice fly, and Singler reached on an error.

Sequoia went on to send 13 batters to the plate in the inning.

“To get back to the top of the lineup without making an out … you just don’t see that very much,” Doyle said. “It’s hard to do even if you’re throwing batting practice.”

Goetz went on to earn the win on the mound. The junior right-hander allowed three runs on five hits through 4 2/3 innings. But when he took the mound in the bottom of the first, confident owner of a 9-0 lead, he quickly surrendered a solo home run to Aragon leadoff hitter Jace Jeremiah.

Doyle’s immediate fear was Saturday afternoon at Aragon would turn into a hitter’s paradise with crooked numbers flying back-and-forth all day long.

“At that point, I’m thinking maybe it is going to be one of those games,” Doyle said. “But after that, Dillon shut the door and locked in.”

The win marked Goetz’s third straight. He was coming off an April 10 victory over Burlingame, in which he went 3 for 4 at the plate while allowing three runs (one earned) on one hit and four walks through five innings in Sequoia’s 9-6 win.

At the plate, Goetz is pacing Sequoia with a .471 batting average. He is one of five starters batting .300 or above.

Singler, always a power threat at the plate, is batting right at .300, going 3 for 10 with three singles on the young season. This, Doyle considers a bit of a slump, at least by Singler’s standards. The senior owns a .442 career varsity batting average and launched five home runs as a sophomore in 2019.

“The one thing you know about people like Ben is he’s going to hit,” Doyle said. “Usually, the better the pitcher, the better Ben hits.”