South City sophomore hits two grand slams; pitches controversial 1-hit gem

“We’re in a must win situation,” Warriors manager Matt Schaukowitch said. “If we lose we’re going to lose the league title. We’re two games back. ... But all that really matters right now is the Tuesday game. We have to win the Tuesday game.”

First, the Warriors (11-2 PAL Lake, 19-5 overall) had to take care of business Thursday against Crystal at Sea Cloud Park. And, boy did they. South City rolled to an abbreviated 24-1 victory that was called after five innings via mercy rule.

South City two-way standout Emilio Oseguera had a day of days. At the plate, the sophomore drilled two grand slam home runs, going 2 for 3 with two walks, eight RBIs, and four runs scored.

On the mound, the left-hander was denied a chance to join the long list of no-hitters thrown in the Peninsula Athletic League this season. Crystal (1-12, 2-14) was credited with one hit on a pop fly off the bat of Connor Uchida that was misplayed by South City shortstop Giovanni Bernal in the second inning. Oseguera finished with an official pitching line of one run on one hit through four innings of work. Junior reliever Gabe Martin threw a perfect fifth to close out the abbreviated five-inning game.

In baseball, the home team’s scorer is considered the official scorer. Crystal’s scorer ruled the missed pop-up a hit. While Crystal’s scorer didn’t chart South City’s lineup — only the lineup of the host Gryphons — South City entered its own statistics into MaxPreps.com, with Oseguera’s pitching line showing no hits.

“Pop up to Bernal at shortstop due to the wind, it’s a routine play in my book,” Schaukowitch said. “He didn’t catch it. So that could be what they’re giving a hit as.”

Crystal coach Tito Gildo said ruling the play as a hit was correct as Bernal never touched the ball.

“The ball itself, the wind took it, and it kind of disoriented the shortstop, and the wind just kind of pulled it back and he just missed the ball,” Gildo said.

Schaukowitch said he would not dispute the official scorer’s ruling.

There have been eight no-hitters thrown in the PAL this season. Three of those no-hitters belong to South City, with Bernal totaling two, and Martin one. While Oseguera won’t join his teammates on the list of no-hitters, he did something far more rare by recording a two-grand slam game.

“I haven’t been around too many players that have performed like this on this day,” Schaukowitch said. “Just dominant on both sides of the ball. ... It wasn’t a picturesque day down there, it was pretty windy ... but next thing you know he’s bang-bang, 1-2-3 (on the mound), and we’re getting guys on and he teed one up. ... And [in the fourth] inning it’s the same thing.”

Oseguera’s first grand slam capped an 11-run rally in the first inning, lofting a shot into the left-field jet stream that landed in the marsh beyond the outfield fence. His second slam, in the midst of a 13-run fourth, was even more impressive, a long, loud blast onto the walking trail beyond the marsh.

Three Crystal pitchers combined to issue 13 walks and five hit batsmen, while South City totaled 13 hits. Leadoff man Martin Chen added two hits with a double and four RBIs, Vince Bernal and Mason Quintanilla had two hits and three RBIs apiece, and Giovanni Bernal added two hits with one RBI.

“We were swinging it a little bit,” Schaukowitch said.

South City has now won three straight, following a hiccup in Lake Division play with a 6-5 loss to Westmoor, Thursday, April 25, snapping a streak of five straight league wins.

“Having a big, long winning streak just — kids kind of get in the mode of that, and when you get unexpectedly upset, it kind of re-fires the engines,” Schaukowitch said. “And I think that’s what we needed.”

The loss doesn’t affect the Warriors’ postseason prospects — even if they were going into next week’s series trailing Priory by one game in the standings, they still would have needed to sweep the two-game series to overtake the Panthers in the standings. As it stands now, a Warriors series sweep would see South City and Priory share a co-championship, with South City earning the CCS bid by virtue of winning the head-to-head season series.

“They’re a good team but I feel we have a good team too,” Schaukowitch said, “and I feel the way we’ve been swinging the bats, and if we can continue to hit and pitch like we can, we’re going to be tough to beat.”