Post 82 sweeps Danville for San Mateo three-peat

Less than 24 hours after beating Palo Alto with three runs in the bottom of the 11th inning, the Orioles captured the Area 2 championship by sweeping a pair of games from Danville Saturday at Palo Alto's Baylands Athletic Complex for their third Area 2 championship in as many years.

Coming through the loser's bracket, San Mateo needed to beat Danville twice to earn a third consecutive trip to the state tournament in Yountville, which begins Friday. After rallying from a 7-2 deficit to win the first game 8-7, the Orioles punched their ticket to Yountville with a 7-3 victory in the winner-take-all finale.

"We have a lot of kids who didn't get a lot of respect on their high school team," said San Mateo manager Mike Chanteloup. "This (championship) might be the toughes of the three."

San Mateo pitcher Matt Arbunich epitomized his manager's comments. A seldom-used pitcher for Aragon this past spring, Arbunich was making his first start in weeks after tweaking his arm learning a submarine-style of pitching.

After struggling early as the starter on the mound in Game 2, giving up three runs on three hits in the first inning, Arbunich was absolutely spectacular the rest of the way. He pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits, getting five double plays from his defense in the process.

"I really don't know where [the performance] came from," Arbunich said, adding he didn't know he would be pitching Saturday. "I came to the ballpark to do my job - whether it was pinch running or whatever."

Arbunich threw 55 pitches through three innings but thew only 51 over the next six innings. He got double-play balls in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

"From the first inning, I said to my shortstop (Drew Pedersen) it would be a fun game," said San Mateo second baseman Brandon Barron, who hit his first career home run in the first game Saturday. "Arby is the hardest working guy I've ever seen."

Danville had crushed its first two opponents of the tournament before beating San Mateo 7-3 Thursday at which point the Orioles realized they might see the Hoots again.

"When we shook hands with them (after Thursday's loss), they said, 'We'll probably see you again Saturday,'" Chanteloup said.

In the 7-3 loss Thursday, San Mateo left 14 runners on base. Saturday, the Orioles came up with the clutch hit when the needed them. San Mateo went down quietly in the first inning but cut Danville's lead to 3-2 with two runs in the second. Jon Ponzo's flyball to right drove in Bobby Scott from third, who led off the inning with a triple. Later in the inning, Alex Augustyn scored on a Pedersen single.

San Mateo took the lead with a five-run fifth as the Orioles pounded out five hits - including an RBI double from Barron, who later scored on a wild pitch. Ponzo drove in his eighth run in three games with a single, Augustyn drew a bases-loaded walk and Nick Monroe' infield hit drove in another run.

"We came through today," Barron said. "We played small ball, we hit the gaps when we needed it. We made our plays."

After that, it was all up to Arbunich, who kept going out to the mound every inning.

"Evan Jones was warming up (in the bullpen) innings one through seven and then Eric Robinson," Chanteloup said. The initial plan was to get at least two innings from Arbunich.

He did way more than that.

"It was incredible," Arbunich said. "I just had to keep the ball down. If I gave up a hit, I had to let it go."

Arbunich's performance was made possible by the Orioles rallying from a five-run deficit in the first game. Danville scored three runs in the second and added four more in the fourth to lead 7-2.

But the Orioles came back. Barron jacked a 1-1 pitch down the left-field line in the third inning for his first career homer to get San Mateo within 3-2. They tied the score with a five-run fifth - Pat Whelly drove in a run with a double and Bobby Scott later followed with a two-run triple. Ryan Peterson and Ponzo also added RBI singles.

San Mateo took an 8-7 lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded, Barron hit a shot to the Danville shortstop that he couldn't handle, allowing Augustyn to score from third with what turned out to be the winning run.

The comeback was made possible by the Orioles' relievers who pitched five innings of shut-out ball. Steve Kalush, who pitched three innings Friday night, threw 1 1/3 innings Saturday. Eric Robinson, San Mateo's winning pitcher in the tournament opener Wednesday, threw the final 3 2/3 innings in picking up the win.

"It just validates the hard work they put in on the side," Chanteloup said.