St. Mary’s stymies Pitman rally in Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South semifinal

Matt Carrigg didn’t slow down to appreciate his moon shot over the left field wall at Klein Family Field.

Instead, the Pitman junior dynamo turned back toward the dugout, pumping his fists, urging his teammates to follow his lead.

The late-inning rally was exciting, to be sure, but also short-lived.

Carrigg launched a two-run home run in the sixth to pull the Pride within one, but the resident kings of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South tournament showed their championship grit late.

St. Mary’s reliever Steven Vasquez stopped the bleeding, retiring the final five batters to preserve a 4-3 victory.

Vasquez struck out the final two in the seventh, knocking the Pride into the loser’s bracket.

With the win, St. Mary’s (20-11) returns to the Division I South final for the eighth straight year. The Rams have won seven of those eight appearances, including six straight.

“I guess maybe the baseball gods like them more. I don’t know what it is,” Pitman coach John Acha said. “They’re a good team. Put the ball in play when they needed to. Got the job done when they needed to. They just play clean, crisp baseball.”

The Pride (24-6) will have to take the long road to their first Division I South finals berth in nearly a decade. Pitman, which won the D-I South title in 2006, will return to Klein Family Field on Thursday to face Tracy in an elimination game.

“It was a tough game. You give us one more inning and you never what could happen,” Acha said. “We rallied a little too late and didn’t play our best ball, but we’ve got to shake it and be ready to get after it again.

“We can’t dwell on it. We didn’t want to take the easy road, anyways.”

Evan Fagundes provided the separation for St. Mary’s with an RBI single in the third inning. He scored the eventual game-winning run on a balk by Pitman reliever Josh Hernandez in the fifth.

The Pride have now lost twice to St. Mary’s in the semifinal round.

In 2013, Pitman was knocked into the loser’s bracket and never made it out, falling to league and city rival Turlock.

The Rams were up to their old tricks again on Wednesday evening, flashing all of their tools. Speedy leadoff hitter Jarron Silva reached base twice, once on a bunt, and tallied St. Mary’s first run on Fagundes’ infield single.

The Rams took a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth inning.

Anthony Galindo worked a lead-off walk and then scored from first on Matt Avila’s double down the left-field line. Avila would score two batters later on Nick Uota’s single to right.

Fagundes pushed the advantage to 4-1 after reaching on a walk. He stole second, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and then trotted home when Hernandez was called for a balk.

Carrigg closed the gap in the sixth, chasing St. Mary’s ace Karsten Lee with a two-run home run that soared well over the faux brick wall in left field.

“Right away, I knew it was gone. He had a tough at-bat, fouling balls off and taking close pitches,” Acha said. “He ended up getting the pitch he wanted.”

Up until that point, Lee was in cruise control. After a shaky first inning, the strong right-hander retired nine straight. He carried a two-hitter into the sixth inning when the wheels came off.

Lee needed medical assistance for a cut on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He remained in the game, but only momentarily.

Carrig’s blast scored Colton Evans. Zach Wichman followed with a double into the left-field corner. Lee was lifted one batter later after issuing a walk to Coleton Horner.

The energy pulsated through the Pitman dugout.

“I was almost 100 percent positive that was going to turn it around for us,” Carrigg said, “get us going and get the lead back.”

Vasquez had other plans and escaped the jam by inducing a pop-up at first. He then froze Donovan Bravo with a called third strike.

“He did his job,” Carrigg said.

Pitman couldn’t have asked for a better start.

The first three batters reached against Lee, who entered the game with a 7-1 record and a minuscule 1.58 ERA.

Evans drew a four-pitch walk and promptly swiped second. After Anthony Encalade was hit by a pitch, Carrigg loaded the bases with single to center field.

Evans would score on a double-play grounder to second base, but the Rams kept the damage at a minimum.

“You have to capitalize on things like that. We left too many runners on base,” Carrigg said. “You have to have some clutch hits right there.”

Acha didn’t name a starter for Thursday’s game. Daren Finney, Carrigg, Bravo are eligible to take the ball for the Pride.

“We’re still planning on playing three more games. We need to talk it over and go over some ideas. … We can do a ‘Johnny Whole Staff’ and piece something together. We have a decent amount of pitchers left in the pen. I’m not worried there. It’s a just matter of playing strategy now to get to Friday.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 10:23 PM with the headline "St. Mary’s stymies Pitman rally in Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South semifinal."