Terra Nova clinches CCS spot

But qualifying for the playoffs? That was accomplished Tuesday. Terra Nova’s 6-2 win over San Mateo, coupled with Woodside’s loss to Menlo School, gives the Tigers a four-game for the second automatic berth with three games remaining in the regular season.

Terra Nova manager Jared Milch admitted he’s kept an eye on the standings, but it’s not something he’s obsessing over.

“We’re really focused on keeping our heads in the right space,” said Milch, a 2016 Terra Nova graduate. “We want to stay in the race for the [Ocean] championship.”

Terra Nova (9-2 PAL Ocean, 16-5-1 overall) kept the pressure on Menlo (10-1, 15-8) as the Tigers rallied to beat San Mateo (4-7, 11-13) behind another strong pitcher performance from starter Aiden James, who after a rocky start, shut down the Bearcats.

James, using an assortment of off-speed stuff to keep the Bearcats off balance, threw 98 pitches on his way to a complete game. He allowed two runs on five hits.

“He threw strikes and he got us out,” said San Mateo manager Neal Goldstein. “Our approach was bad.”

It was pretty good in the bottom of the first, however. Hayato Nishiyama led off the game with a single to center for San Mateo and stole second. That was followed by a 10-pitch battle before Chris Louie singled to put runners on the corner. That brought up Jesus Olivas, who doubled to left to drive in Nishiyama and Louie taking third.

Louie came in to score on a Julian Bleess sacrifice fly to left to give the Bearcats a quick 2-0 lead as they forced James to throw 33 pitches in the inning.

And with Louie on the mound, that was a lead the Bearcats could work with.

“He’s a great arm,” Milch said of Louie. “He’s caused a lot of problems in this league.”

And Louie certainly gave his team a chance to win, with only a high pitch count knocking him out after five innings.

James, meanwhile, settled in for Terra Nova. He threw 15 pitches in the second inning to give him 48 through two, but then he got into a groove. He got a line-drive double play to end the second before he went on to retire the next nine batters in order in the third through fifth innings.

In those three innings, he threw a total of 24 pitches.

“Aiden does a great job keeping us in the game,” Milch said. “Giving us a chance to win every time out.”

He threw a four-pitch walk to Louie to lead off the sixth and gave up his first hit since the second inning when pinch hitter Michael Lackey blooped a single to shallow right field for his first varsity hit in the bottom of the seventh but, other than that, James was dominant.

And with James shutting down the Bearcats’ bats, it gave the Tigers’ offense the time it needed to get back into the game. Terra Nova scratched out an unearned run in the second inning. Brody Finale led off the inning by reaching on an error. Evan Wilson came up with a one-out double, with Finale stopping at third. He came in to score when Jesse Martinez’s slow chopper was thrown away at first, but Louie escaped without any further damage.

Louie gave up a single and a walk in the third and struck out the side in order in the fourth before Terra Nova finally managed to wrestle the lead away from the Bearcats in the fifth.

The inning started with a walk to No. 9 hitter Isaac Roman, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt from leadoff hitter Wesley McDougal. Luke Ornelas walked and Joey Donati singled to load the bases.

The Tigers tied the score on Finale’s bases-loaded walk and took the lead on a JT Snead sacrifice fly to center to put Terra Nova up 3-2 and knock Louie out of the game.

The Tigers then tacked on three unearned insurance runs against the San Mateo bullpen in the sixth, with the big blow being a Donati two-run double — right after Ornelas had doubled in a run of his own — to round out the scoring for the Tigers, as the Bearcats committed errors Nos. 3 and 4 for the game.

“Too many free 90s,” Goldstein said.

For Terra Nova, the win is the latest in the season that see the Tigers playing without a home. A new baseball facility, which was supposed to be ready by the start of the season, now is expected to be done in August. Milch said the road dog mentality, coupled with some gut-punch losses early on, has brought the team closer.

“That’s been our motto: Play for each other,” Milch said. “They’ve done a great job of staying together.”