Baseball

Bonita Gets No-Hit Through Six, But Rallies in Seventh & Defeats Ayala, 4-1, in Palomares League Showdown; Santiago Struck Out 12 for Bearcats

Mar 25 2023 03:34:16

Photos by Beth Oualline & Josh Thompson of Champion Newspapers

Editor’s Note: I apologize for the video quality. It looks like you’re watching from a mile away. It’s the first baseball video I’ve done in close to two years. I promise it will get better.

Baseball:

Jeremy Byers did everything within his power to lead Ayala to a Palomares League victory on Friday afternoon.

The Bulldogs junior had a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning against visiting Bonita in a showdown between the league’s two best programs.

Diego Vazquez led off the top of the inning for the Bearcats with a high fly ball to deep left-center that carried in the wind.

It looked for a moment that it might be caught, but it hit off the midway part of the fence, and BHS had the tying run on third with no outs.

Jared Brunk followed with a single and the game was tied at 1-1.

Colton Perez bunted Brunk to second, and he would score on a Tyler Holley base hit to give Bonita a 2-1 lead.

Garrett Patterson was intentionally walked.

Andrew Sanchez would double in Holley and Patterson, which gave Bonita starter Justin Santiago his first lead of the game.

And Santiago closed out the victory with a scoreless seventh inning, including a strikeout of Caleb Trugman to finish off the Bulldogs.

Santiago, who threw a no-hitter one week ago against Alta Loma in the Palomares League opener, surrendered a solo shot to Ayala leadoff batter Marcus Galvan in the bottom of the first inning.

Aiden Erlandsen had a single to account for the other AHS hit on Friday.

Santiago walked one and struck out 12 to improve his personal record to 6-0.

He got eight of the nine Ayala batters on strikes at least once, and Santiago needed 89 pitches to finish what he started.

As mentioned, Byers was outstanding.

He went 6 1/3 innings, and he was charged with three runs on three hits.

Byers did not issue a walk and fanned five BHS batters.

Of his 63 pitches, Byers threw 49 strikes.

Bryan Yang allowed one run on one hit.

Yang walked one and struck out one BHS batter.

Up next: The Bulldogs head to Bonita on Saturday morning.

The first pitch is set for 10 am.

To view a photo gallery by Josh Thompson, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook

To view photos from Beth Oualline, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook

Box Score:
B: 0-0-0-0-0-0-4-(4)
A: 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-(1)

Win: Justin Santiago
Loss: Jeremy Byers

HR: Marcus Galvan (A)
3B: Diego Vazquez (B)
2B: Andrew Sanchez

Records: Bonita (9-1, 3-0); Ayala (5-5, 2-1)

Fast forward to the 50 second mark for the start of the seventh-inning rally.

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