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Sports

BASEBALL: Aptos Clipped By Los Gatos

Late inning rally spoils solid road showing by Mariners.

Los Gatos 3, Aptos 2

The Star: Three pitchers made their season debuts for the Aptos High baseball team on Saturday, including starting pitcher Brandon Valle. The southpaw stifled a previously red-hot Los Gatos lineup, holding his opponents to only two hits in five innings of work. Despite the solid showings on the hill from the fresh arms, two late runs by Los Gatos High sunk the Aptos victory hopes as they fell 3-2 on a breezy Saturday afternoon at Los Gatos High.

Valle mixed speeds well and used a nasty breaking ball to strike out three. The lone Los Gatos run allowed came off a squeeze play down the first base line in the fourth inning.

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John Evans and Orey Wafford each had RBIs for the Mariners in the loss.

 The Turning Point:  Aptos took a 2-1 lead off a rocket shot RBI double from Wafford in the top half of the fifth. The gap shot allowed teammate Ben Hudson to fly around all the way from first base to score and give the visitors a narrow midgame advantage.

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However, the lead wouldn’t hold long.

Los Gatos senior Kevin Brogan started off the home team’s comeback by taking an inside pitch off his back. The hit by pitch eventually led to a clutch sacrifice fly to deep left by Curtis Breidenthal that scored Brogan from third and tied things up at two after six.

One inning later, it was Peter Danna that got things going for the host ‘Cats. Danna lined a single into left field then Vince Augustine drew a walk to put a pair of runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh with nobody out.

Three batters later, Brogan finished off the rally by beating out an infield hit with the bases loaded and two away to give the surging Los Gatos squad a dramatic 3-2 walk-off victory.

The Quote: “I was just looking to hit anything I could hard,” Brogan said about his mindset going into the key bases loaded at-bat in the seventh. “I just wanted to make sure I slowed everything down.”

 Aptos head coach Dave Heinevetter was proud of his pitching staff despite the end result.

 “It was a good ball game today,” Heinevetter said. “We had three guys on the mound today that hadn’t pitched all year for us. They did a great job and kept us in the ball game. That’s a well coached team over there. I joked with Mike (Denevi) that I’m going to get him one of these days.”

 The Mariners head man expects his club to contend for a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League crown this season.

 “Absolutely, we’ll be right in the middle of the race,” Heinevetter said when asked about his team’s chances. “The good thing is that we’re contending now and we’re still a really young team.”

 What's Next? Aptos will square off fellow SCCAL member Scotts Valley High on Monday in the Leland High Fight Against Cancer Tournament held at Leland in San Jose. The game will not count in the league standings.

Bottom Line: The Aptos non-league schedule isn’t one for the faint of heart. The rugged slate has already seen the Mariners face perennial playoff schools such as Los Altos, Palma-Salinas and Bishop Manogue-Reno. With a handful of SCCAL games still left to go, Aptos currently trails Soquel High by only game for first in league play.

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Los Gatos 3, Aptos 2

LG- 0 0 0 1 0 1 1- 3 4 1

AP-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 – 2 5 1

WP: Corey. LP: Glaum

Records: LG 14-4-1, 7-3 De Anza. AP 6-5, 3-1 SCCAL.

 

 

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