Turlock’s Pitman bounced from Sac-Joaquin Section D-I South baseball playoffs

It all fell apart rather abruptly for Pitman High on Thursday night at UOP’s Klein Family Field.

After just seven pitches, the Pride had recorded two outs in the game’s first half-inning. The third out, however, wouldn’t come until Tracy had scored five runs, on its way to a 13-2 victory and a showdown with St. Mary’s for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South title.

With two outs the Pride (24-7) went walk, hit batsman, single, single, single, double-steal, walk and error to fall behind 5-0.

Pitman struck for two in its half of the inning, or, rather, Tracy gave two runs back.

A walk to Colton Evans was followed by Matt Carrigg’s one-out single to center. Evans would score on a balk by pitcher Thomas Greely, and Carrigg would later trot home on a Greely throwing error.

But any momentum the Pride gained in the bottom of the first was wiped away when the Bulldogs scored two in the top of the second.

The right-handed Greely settled down after his rocky first inning and allowed just four baserunners the rest of the way – a walk and a single to Carrigg, a double to Evans and a walk to Zach Wichman.

Pitman had no answers for Greely at the plate, either, as the junior went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, including a two-run double in the fourth.

The Bulldogs (22-10), which lost 6-1 to the Rams (20-11) on Monday, must win twice to capture the South banner. Top-seeded St. Mary’s needs to win just once to earn the right to play the North champ (Granite Bay or Elk Grove) in a best-of-three series May 29-30 at Sacramento City College.

The Rams have not only won the last six South titles but now have reached that South final nine consecutive seasons. During that span, they’ve posted a 5-0 record over Tracy, not to mention a 19-5 record over the Central California Conference and a 6-0 mark against the MMC.

Eight-time section champ Elk Grove – trailing only Central Catholic (11) and Vanden (9) for most in SJS history – is making its third straight appearance in the North final and seventh in the last 10 years.

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 7:58 AM with the headline "Turlock’s Pitman bounced from Sac-Joaquin Section D-I South baseball playoffs."