Enochs baseball defeats Gregori; closing in on Modesto Metro’s No. 2 seed

Eli Martinez stood in the shadow of his dugout, long hair tucked beneath his cap, dirt and cookie crumbles scattered across his face.

Between bites, the senior dynamo politely postponed an interview request as he finished his postgame treat.

With the regular season drawing to a close and the Enoch High School baseball team in the thick of a playoff race, Martinez has his priorities in order: Get the win, savor the cookie, then give the interview.

For the second time in three days, Martinez and the Eagles followed that script to the letter in a pivotal 4-2 victory over Gregori at Dick Windemuth Field.

Martinez found himself at both ends of the victory. The speedy leadoff hitter scored from second on a single by Jordan Davidson to stake the Eagles to a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Later, he climbed the mound for the final three outs, picking up his second save of the week as the Eagles (15-10, 12-5 Modesto Metro Conference) moved within a game of clinching the MMC’s No. 2 playoff seed.

A sure-handed shortstop, Martinez has emerged as the Eagles’ closer. He relieved starter Ryan Davis in the seventh inning and worked out of a jam with two strikeouts.

“I’ve never been put in this situation, but I like the pressure,” Martinez said. “I used to start but fell off that to focus on short. It feels good to be back up there.

“I like the one-inning, go-get-the-guy, shut-the-door approach.”

The Eagles assured themselves a series victory and the tiebreaker over the Jaguars (15-8, 9-5) should the two finish with identical records.

Of course, Enochs can eliminate any drama in the final week of the season with a victory Friday at Mastagni Field.

A series sweep would lock up the No. 2 seed for the Eagles, who are idle next week.

“For our guys to step up and play like they have today and Monday was huge,” Enochs coach Chris Butterfield said. “Dropping a few games earlier put us down a little bit and made us have to work for this second spot. Now, we’re right back in it with a chance to take it back. Big win. Huge win for us.”

Friday presents more than just a physical challenge, though. The Eagles are 2-3 on Fridays in conference with ugly home losses to front-running Beyer (14-1) and Downey (20-8), an up-and-coming team still in the postseason picture.

Last week, Modesto avoided a series sweep to Enochs with a 6-1 victory.

“Going into Friday, we have to take care of business and we know that,” Martinez said. “We look forward to it. Recently, we haven’t been prepared, so we need to take those steps to get to where we need to be. We need to go in with the mindset that we need to attack this team.”

Like on Wednesday. Adrian Gonzales tripled and scored in the second inning on Tanner Shears’ single. Shears scored on Kyle Fulbright’s sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

“Anytime you can score first is big. We’ve done that in the past, and we just didn’t capitalize on it and it’s come back to bite us,” Butterfield said. “But we did that today. We won several innings. They came back a little bit. Again, they’re not going to quit and go away.”

Gregori pulled within 3-2 on a two-run triple by Cody Patterson. Andrew Urrutia started the scoring sequence with a double down the left-field line and moved to third on a balk. Matt Dallas followed with a walk to set the table for Patterson. The tall right-hander lifted a ball into the wind and watched it carry to the fence in right-center field.

It was the only hit with runners in scoring position for the suddenly punchless Jaguars.

After rarely trailing during an 11-game, month-long winning streak, Gregori has struggled to score despite outhitting the Eagles in the series, 17-12.

“We did a great job of setting the table,” Gregori coach Jim Davis said. “We had a couple huge hits during the course of the game, but at the same time, you have to tip your cap to Enochs. Their kids did a great job of keeping us off balance.”

Gregori made Enochs sweat, putting multiple runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings with one out. Each time, the Eagles wiggled free.

Davis survived the sixth with a groundout and punchout, wasting a leadoff double by Patterson.

In the seventh, Martinez walked Tyler Vandemark and then gave up a towering double to Urrutia. The ball crashed off the foul pole in right field.

With the winning run at the plate, Martinez dialed up a pop-out in foul territory and a strikeout to close.

Davis couldn’t find fault in his boys, who hadn’t lost consecutive games since being swept by Beyer to start MMC play. The Jaguars gave themselves a chance, he said.

“Watching our kids set that table, second and third, hoping to drive a couple of runs in,” Davis said. “All you ask of your kids is to give yourselves a chance to tie the game or win the game in the seventh inning. A lot had to happen for us to get there – and it did. That’s a testament to our kids. They fought the entire time.”

Ryan Davis allowed two runs and seven hits to earn the win. He struck out four and walked two.

Sophomore Chris Butterfield drove in an insurance run in the fourth with a double.

Martinez also doubled.

“We’re staying of focused and working hard, keeping our eye on the prize,” coach Butterfield said. “We control our own destiny.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Enochs baseball defeats Gregori; closing in on Modesto Metro’s No. 2 seed."