Duffy delivers as Beyer rolls in Sac-Joaquin Section baseball playoff opener

Kevin Duffy reaches back with his left hand, almost as if he’s going to tuck the ball in his back pocket, and then …

Whoosh!

Like the crack of a whip, Duffy’s arm fires over the top of his shoulder, slinging the ball to the plate.

“He throws a heavy ball,” Beyer High School skipper Dom Duran said. “It gets on batters faster than they expect.”

It’s baseball’s age-old game of cat-and-mouse. Are you quick enough to hit the quick-enough?

On Wednesday, the seventh-seeded McNair Eagles dug into the batter’s box at Pacific’s Klein Family Field, hoping to get a piece of the Modesto Metro Conference’s strikeout king.

Save for a little drama at the start, Duffy was untouchable in second-seeded Beyer’s 9-1 victory in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South tournament.

Duffy struck out 12 for the third time this season, finishing one “K” shy of tying his season high set against Edison, another Stockton Unified program.

“We’ve seen this before,” Duran said of the nervy start. “It’s almost as if I wish I could let him warm up for another half hour. In the first inning, it’s like he’s still trying to find his groove.

“After that first lineup goes through, after that first set of batters goes through, that’s when you saw the (real) Kevin Duffy. Then, he was dominant.”

Chris Alonzo, Jordan Walls, Ryan Frakes and Trevor Ravelli drove in two runs apiece for the Patriots (22-4), who avoided the one-and-done fate of the Stanislaus District’s other three Division I programs. Gregori and Enochs were eliminated in out-bracket games, and Turlock was bounced by Tracy on Wednesday.

Beyer will play No. 6 Tracy on Monday at 4 p.m. as the tournament shifts to a double-elimination format. The Bulldogs knocked the Patriots out of the D-I South tournament last season, 10-3.

“We were rooting for Tracy because we do have history with them,” Duran said. “It hasn’t been pretty. We have fought and we have had words, but we want to beat the best. I tip my hat to them because they are one of the best.”

Duffy returned to the mound at Klein Family Field sharpened by his final appearance of the 2015 season. The hard-throwing, soft-spoken senior took the ball in Beyer’s elimination game against Tracy and suffered a loss to the perennial title contender.

“Had to come out with a higher intensity,” he said.

After a shaky first inning that featured two passed balls and a walk, Duffy allowed just two harmless singles, two walks and beaned one batter.

“I was nervous at first,” Duffy admitted. “I was very anxious. After that, I got into a groove.”

Duran visited his ace in the fifth inning with the thought of pulling him in favor of Josh Escobar, the MMC’s Pitcher of the Year. Instead, Duran left Duffy in the game, convinced the lefty had enough to finish. Duffy induced an inning-ending groundout and then retired six of the next seven to complete the start.

“He had that look in his eye,” Duran said.

McNair advanced to meet Beyer with a 4-3 victory over No. 10 Pitman. The Eagles won in truly unique fashion, scoring the winning run on a hit batter in the bottom of the seventh.

The Eagles (21-8) rolled that momentum into Wednesday’s game. Johnny Loza led off the game with an infield single and raced home on Payton Padilla’s high chopper to the shortstop.

Duffy put him in position to score, skipping two balls past catcher Matt Williams and walking Nick Chapman.

The Bee’s top-ranked large-school team never lost its cool, though. The dugout bounced with the music between innings as the Patriots’ bats slowly warmed to McNair starter Nick Prum.

The Patriots struck for three runs in the second inning. Matt Williams singled to left and moved into scoring position on a walk to No. 9 hitter Tyler Orique. Alonzo drove both home with a single into the right-center gap.

More impressive than the knock was Orique’s speed and instincts. Orique scored from first on the hit, sliding under the tag to make it 2-1.

“That’s baseball, and you can’t teach that,” Duran said of the instinctual baserunning. “That’s playing the game all these years, being able to see shots like that, reading outfielders before the ball is hit.”

Ravelli followed with a two-out infield single to score Alonzo, who was moving on contact.

Chase Fetzer doubled off the left-field wall to lead off the fourth and scored on a passed ball.

Frakes and Walls highlighted a five-run sixth with two-run singles.

Uncomfortable in the spotlight, Duffy praised his offense and defense for allowing him to have success. Reminded of his 12 strikeouts, Duffy seemed more impressed with the nine runs. After all, he said, run support is a crucial component to his let-her-rip fastball.

“It’s key when you have a pitching staff like this,” Duffy said. “We can go after batters and know they’ll come back the next half inning and score runs. That’s what we love to do.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Duffy delivers as Beyer rolls in Sac-Joaquin Section baseball playoff opener."