Big inning propels Buhach Colony past Gregori

Gregori High School right-hander A.J. MacCaughtry looked like he was going to get out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the third inning with only giving up one run.

MacCaughtry struck out two consecutive batters and was an out away from swinging momentum back into the Jaguars’ dugout.

However, Buhach Colony freshman RJ Garcia drew a walk to force in a run. That cracked the hole in the dam as Logan Lemas followed with a run-scoring single and Ubaldo Romo cracked a two-run double as the Thunder went on to score six runs in the inning.

Eighth-seeded Gregori (19-9) battled back, but No. 9 Buhach Colony (14-14) held on for a 9-6 victory in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs Monday afternoon at Mastagni Family Field.

“They did a good job of putting a ton of pressure on us,” Gregori coach James Davis said. “It was the small things they did at the beginning of the inning that led to the runs. They get an infield hit and the push bunt.

“It seemed like we were going to get out of it and then we walked in a run. Buhach did a great job. Our kids did a great job of being down six and making a game of it.”

Buhach Colony’s two freshmen played a big part in the rally. Freshman third baseman Alex Kendrick beat out an infield single to start the rally before Garcia drew the bases-loaded walk.

“Kendrick swung the bat well and made some nice plays on defense,” said Buhach Colony coach Greg Wakefield, whose team will play top seed St. Mary’s of Stockton on Thursday at University of the Pacific’s Klein Family Field at 7 p.m. “He started a big double play for us. RJ had nothing but big at-bats for us today.”

Mike Casso followed Kendrick’s leadoff single by beating out a bunt single. Nick Singer walked to load the bases, and the table was set.

Logan Coe singled in a run, and two outs later, the floodgates opened after the bases-loaded walk to Garcia. Romo delivered the two-run double that gave the Thunder the early 6-0 lead.

“We just started piling on and everyone was hitting,” Romo said. “Hitting is just contagious. It did feel good to do that for my team.”

The Thunder offense came alive with 11 hits, as it put runners on base in just about every inning.

Wakefield knew scoring runs would be important against a Gregori offense that hit .359 and averaged close to seven runs per game. The Jaguars racked up 13 hits with Andrew Urrutia, Jon Hernandez, Roberto Flores, Michael Olivarez and Herctor Guerrero each collecting two.

“That’s a good-hitting team,” Wakefield said. “When they came back with their big inning, we knew we needed to add more. They scored four, and we were able to come back and add two.”

Buhach Colony starter Nick Singer, who pitched four innings to pick up the win, wriggled out of two early jams with the help of double-play balls in the first and third innings.

The Jaguars broke through in the fourth as Urrutia and Cody Patterson started the frame with back-to-back singles. Hernandez followed with an RBI single and Jimmy McClenaghan had a sacrifice fly to cut the Thunder lead to 6-2.

Flores doubled in a run and Guerrero drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to pull the Jaguars within 6-4.

“It was a dogfight,” Romo said. “The playoffs aren’t easy. We knew we had to keep battling and bounce back. We were able to push across a couple more runs.”

That came on a walk and a hit batter. Christian Witt scored on a wild pitch, and Kendrick singled in Kory Woods to extend Buhach Colony’ lead to 8-4.

Then, Woods added an RBI double in the sixth to stretch the Thunder lead to 9-4.

Gregori plated two runs in the sixth off Buhach Colony reliever Mike Casso, but Romo closed the door in the seventh.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 8:49 PM with the headline "Big inning propels Buhach Colony past Gregori."