No easy way out for CHS

By Jeremy D. Malamed

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Posted: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:25 AM CDT

Brandon Fisher, right, and Jake Mote watch under a full moon as a 5-0 lead slips away for Calaveras Saturday. Enterprise photos by Mark Godi

Make history. Or be history.

For the Calaveras High baseball team, those are the options when they take the field in Lodi today for the second, and perhaps third, games of their section semifinal series against Hughson at Zupo Field.

After blowing a 5-0 lead in a 6-5 loss to the Huskies in Game 1 of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V best-of-three semifinal series Saturday, the Redskins need to win twice today or their season is over.

“If we don't win the next game, we won't get to play the third game,” Calaveras coach Mike Koepp said. “We can't hold anything back. We need to do whatever it takes to get the 'W.'”

First pitch for today's first game is scheduled for 4 p.m. If Calaveras wins Game 2, Game 3 will follow shortly after.

Win twice and the Redskins will advance to the section finals, where they will try to win the section title for the first time in school history.

The section finals are 6 p.m. Monday, May 26, at Zupo Field.

The likely opponent will be Central Catholic, the top-ranked Division IV team in the state, which outslugged Escalon 14-9 in Game 1 of their semifinal series Saturday.

Calaveras (17-9) appeared to be in control of Game 1 of its series against Trans Valley League champion Hughson early on.

The Redskins scored single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings, keyed by an RBI single by Andrew Graves and a double by Mark Storm.

In the top of the third, Hughson (20-8) put runners on the corners with one out, but a ground ball up the middle was cut off by CHS second baseman Mark Storm, who turned an inning-ending double play with shortstop Nick Lucchesi.

Feeding off the momentum of the big defensive play, Calaveras seemingly put the hammer down when it scored three times in the bottom half of the inning, twice when batters got hit by pitches with the bases loaded, to go up 5-0.

But Hughson would rally over the final four innings, tying the game and scoring the eventual winning run in the top of the seventh.

“We had a chance to put them away early on, but we didn't hit in situations where we could have scored more runs,” Koepp said. “Defensively, we did some good things, but we had a few key misplays.

“We just didn't do enough to win. We were hoping to hold on, but they got the momentum and ran with it.”

Brooks Hulett threw the first five innings for Calaveras, allowing two earned runs on five hits. Sophomore lefty Aaron Gillis came on in relief in the sixth and took the loss after giving up the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

Graves drew a leadoff walk for the Redskins in the bottom half of the seventh and advanced to third with no outs on an errant throw on a steal attempt. But Hughson ace Archie Quay came on in relief and struck out the next two batters before getting a ground ball to end the game.

“Our guys are down a bit. They thought we lost a game we should have won,” Koepp said. “I told them this is going to be a character check for the team. Good teams come back and battle in the next game.”

The Redskins will call on ace Steve Frater to take the hill in Game 2. Frater threw a two-hit shutout for Calaveras in a first-round win over Gustine. His teammates will be looking to him to get them to a deciding third game, where Hulett and Gillis will likely get a shot at redemption.

“Our kids feel confident when (Steve's) on the bump,” Koepp said.

Contact Jeremy D. Malamed at sports@calaverasenterprise.com

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