Sports

Baseball: Dons Rally to Stay Atop EBAL Standings

Amador scores six runs in the sixth en route to an 8-7 win against Cal.

Amador Valley 8, California 7

Records: Amador Valley 16-3, 7-2; California 10-8-1, 6-3.

The Star: Amador's Tommy Pluschkell was 2 for 3 with a run and a pair of RBI's.

Find out what's happening in Pleasantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Turning Point: Amador's six-run sixth erased a 6-2 Cal lead and propelled the Dons to an important EBAL win.

The Quote: "They believe they can play a full game," Amador coach Lou Cesario said. "It's not a roller coaster, it's a seven-inning game."

Find out what's happening in Pleasantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Who's Next? Amador plays San Ramon Valley Saturday at  the Oakland Coliseum and  Cal hosts Foothill on Friday at 4 p.m.

The Bottom Line: Amador and Cal came into the game tied for the lead in the EBAL standings (along with Foothill). The win gives Amador some momentum into Saturday's game against San Ramon Valley at the Oakland Coliseum. Cal will send Evan Brisentine to the mound to face first-place Foothill on Friday.

——————————————————————————————

When the Amador Valley baseball team entered the sixth inning of Wednesday's first-place showdown against Cal down 6-2, it was in familiar territory.

Three weeks ago, the Dons trailed 4-1 headed to the seventh before scoring nine runs in the final frame to rally past San Ramon Valley.

So when the Dons started rallying on Wednesday it didn't surprise coach Lou Cesario.

"They believe they can play a full game," he said. "It's not a roller coaster, it's a seven-inning game."

Aaron Hafford started the inning with a single and after Tony Olguin struck out, the next five Amador hitters reached base — highlighted by an RBI double from Michael Lam. Chris Keck walked with the bases loaded and Tommy Pluschkell followed with a sacrifice-fly to tie the game at 6-6.

David Johnson, the inning's ninth batter, and Hafford came up with RBI singles to give the Dons a two-run lead.

"We never give up, our bats can strike at any time," Pluschkell said. "We're a dangerous team in the lineup. I really feel confident no matter what the score is."

Amador had five players with at least two hits, including two in the bottom half of the order (Olguin and Lam) and one who came off the bench (Hafford).

Pluschkell finished the day 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs and scored the first run for Amador in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Olguin.

"They got some clutch hits and made the plays in the field," Cal coach Dan Ward said. "That was pretty much it."

The loss snaps Amador's eight-game losing streak to the Grizzlies dating back to a 1-0 win on May 2, 2006.

"We knew that coming in, but we knew we definitely had a good chance at beating them," Pluschkell said.

After giving up the lead, Cal made it interesting.

Amador pitcher Mike Mallory walked Ryan Kochan and Adam Coll to start the bottom half of the sixth, but Mallory quickly settled down. Michael Smith bunted Kochan and Coll over and Rudy Leon followed with a sac-fly to score Kochan. Mallory came back to strike out John Sarmenta and didn't allow a hit in the seventh to preserve the win.

After putting up four runs in the first two innings, Chris Hayden's two-run double in the fifth was the only hit the Grizzlies would get the rest of the game. Leon homered and doubled to account for half of Cal's hits.

Coupled with the Dons remain tied with their crosstown rivals in first place in the EBAL standings. 

——————————————————————————————

Amador Valley (16-3, 7-2) 000 116 0— 8 13 0
California (10-8-1, 6-3) 310 021 0— 7 4 2


Amador (ab-r-h)— Hamm 5-2-2, Moroney 3-1-0, Keck 2-1-0, Pluschkell 3-1-2, Johnson 4-0-1, Finn 2-0-1, Hafford 2-1-2, Olguin 4-0-2, Petros 4-1-2, Lam 3-1-1.
Cal (ab-r-h)— Leon 3-2-2, Sarmenta 2-2-0, Moen 3-2-1, Peter 4-0-0, Hayden 2-0-1, Truex 4-0-0, Kochan 1-1-0, Elliott 2-0-0, Coll 0-0-0, Smith 2-0-0.

Pitching 
Amador
 — Piscotty 4.1 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 5 BB; Gibbons 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB;  Mallory 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 3 BB.
Cal — Wingard 4.1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K; Elliott 1 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 0 BB; King 0.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K; Thronson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K.

Batting 
2B — Hamm (AV), Finn (AV), Lam (A V), Leon (C), Hayden (C); HR — Leon (C). 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here