June 1, 2005

Longhorns end year with 5-0 loss to Lancers in baseball playoffs

Longhorns struggle to stop St. Francis’ Lansford and Coleman

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The Leigh High Longhorns managed only two hits against St. Francis starting pitcher Chris Coleman in a season-ending 5-0 loss in the quarterfinals of the CCS baseball playoffs on May 21.

Longhorns’ starting pitcher Zach Samuels was treated roughly by the St. Francis Lancers’ offense, allowing three runs on four hits while walking five in a 5-0 loss on May 21. Samuels will head to De Anza College next season to play baseball. Photo by Diego Abeloos

The Longhorns came into the game having won the Mt. Hamilton Division title. But, fresh off a 7-1 win over Gunn in the first round of CCS playoffs, they could not stop the sizzling bat of Lancers’ third baseman Jared Lansford, who went 3-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and two stolen bases.

“We battled every game, and we had a great year,” said Leigh Head Coach Noe Ochoa. “The seniors, it’s a great way to go out. We’ll keep our heads up. It’s one game, a tough loss. I wish we could play them (Lancers) again, I think the result would be different.”

Senior right-hander Zach Samuels took the hill in round two for the Longhorns and found himself in trouble in the second inning, which started with a walk and a hit-and-run single off the bat of Robert Sedin, placing runners on the corners with one out. With Matt Zipse at the plate, Samuels had Sedin picked off of first base, resulting in a pickle. But Samuels’ throw to second base tipped off second baseman Andy Holloway’s glove and trickled into the outfield, allowing designated hitter Adam Ramirez to score the first run of the game.

“I feel we competed, it’s just that a couple of things didn’t go our way, especially in the second inning,” said Ochoa. “That was a momentum-turner.”

Later in the inning, with two outs and Sedin on third, Chris Viegas dropped a bunt down the third baseline. Longhorns’ third baseman Brian Wendt couldn’t get a good grip on the ball and the play went for an infield single, scoring Sedin from third for a 2-0 lead.

Still with two outs in the inning and runners on first and second after a walk to Matt Long, Lansford came up and hit a line-drive single off the scoreboard in left-center field, scoring Viegas easily from second for a 3-0 Lancer lead.

“In the second inning, there were some errors and a couple of big hits and a couple of missed spots,” Samuels said. “What can you do? Keep your head up and pitch another day.”

Meanwhile, Coleman escaped a pair of jams in his first two innings of work unscathed, leaving a combined total of four Longhorn baserunners stranded on the bases. The Longhorns loaded the bases in the first, getting a single from Samuels and a pair of walks from Jadd Correia and Tyler Derby, but Longhorns’ first baseman Adrian Mull struck out looking to end the threat from Leigh.

In the second inning, Holloway got a two-out single to get things going. He then stole second base and swiftly moved to third on a wild pitch before rightfielder Darren Gobin grounded out, ending the Longhorn threat once more.
From that point on, Coleman appeared untouchable, allowing only a walk and hitting two batters the rest of the way to pick up a shutout victory.

“It was an off-day,” Ochoa said of his offense. “The guys were maybe a little too excited. But hey, I’m proud of them. They all did a great throughout the year. We can’t let one game define our season.”

The Lancers added to their score in the later innings, getting a solo home run to left field from Lansford off Derby in the fifth, who came into the game to relieve Samuels. In the seventh, the Lancers added their final run of the game, getting a two-out double off the bat of Alex Dreyfuss to score Lansford from third.

Despite the loss, Samuels said the season was still a great success.

“I’m really proud of all my teammates,” Samuels said. “We came back and battled through a lot of adversity. We were 5-5 and finished the last 16 games at 15-1. We got to 21 wins (with playoff win versus Gunn). There’s nothing to be disappointed with.”

Willow Glen baseball ends season with two straight losses

Rams get one hit at Leigh, end year with 11-3 loss to Santa Teresa

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The Willow Glen High School baseball team’s 1-0 loss at Leigh on May 11 reflected the season-long struggles endured by the Rams—solid pitching coupled with a meager offense.

The Rams, in sixth place coming into the game at 5-15 in Mt. Hamilton Division play, were limited to just one hit on offense—a third inning single by Eddie Romo—through seven innings of play by Leigh starter Blake McFarland.

“This team doesn’t hit, it’s a light-hitting team,” Willow Glen Head Coach Bret Gladden said of his squad. “They don’t make adjustments. You see all these other teams, two-strike adjustments … These guys, the young kids, they haven’t bought in. They won’t buy into it.”

Gladden’s comment reflects the frustration the Rams have had offensively this season. Although they hold a 4-2 record in one-run games this year, the Rams have come up short in games where the final score was decided by two runs or more, posting a 2-13 record in 2005. As an offense, the Rams scored just over 3.5 runs per game through 22 games played coming into the contest against Leigh.

The loss to Leigh also came during a down period for the Rams, who came into the game on a nine-game losing streak.

“It’s been real tough because we feel we could’ve won almost every game,” said Rams’ catcher Will Robinson. “Either errors or lack of hitting does us in.”

The lackluster offensive performance spoiled a solid start by Willow Glen starting pitcher Jason Tom, who went six innings for the tough-luck loss. The right-hander limited a prolific Longhorn lineup that featured four hitters with batting averages over .360—including two in Darren Gobin and Brian Wendt with averages over .400—to just one run on six hits.

“He kept us off-balance and he hides the ball well,” said Leigh Head Coach Noe Ochoa. “He changed speeds, and he just did a good job. You have to give him credit.”

Tom showed poise throughout the game and worked himself out of a handful of jams through his six innings of work.

In the first, Tom allowed back-to-back singles with no outs, only to pick Leigh shortstop Zach Samuels off first base before striking out number-three hitter Jadd Correia and getting cleanup hitter Brian Wendt to hit into a routine groundout.

After an error and a passed ball put Leigh’s Tyler Derby at third with no out in the second, Tom began to work out of the another jam by getting first baseman Adrian Mull to ground out to second baseman Brandon Mendoza. After plunking catcher Adam Wells with a pitch, Tom got McFarland to hit into a double play to shortstop, ending the threat.

“He’s thrown very well for us,” Gladden said of Tom. “…He’s been the anchor of this team.”

The Longhorns finally broke through with a run in the fifth inning however, beginning with a two-out infield single from Andy Holloway. Holloway then stole second base and on the play, made his way to third as Robinson’s throw to second base skipped into center field.

Longhorn right fielder Darren Gobin, who came into the game with a .404 average, then stepped up and delivered a two-strike single to center field, scoring Holloway from third for Leigh’s only run of the game.

“He threw excellent; probably his best game of the year,” Robinson said of Tom. “We just didn’t get him any runs.”

While the glum season drew to a close only two days later, Gladden is hopeful for the future of Willow Glen baseball. The Rams went through the season with a roster comprised of mainly underclassmen and with a full year of varsity experience under their collective belts, Gladden is expecting better things with a group of seasoned varsity veterans in 2006.

“You hate to say that you’d like to see it wind down because you have great hopes for a team,” Gladden said of ending the 2005 season. “There’s some good young players on this team, but they’re just too young to compete at this level. The chemistry on this team was just not quite what you need to compete.”

The Rams then finished their 2005 season with an 11-3 loss against Santa Teresa on May 13, setting their final record at 6-16 overall and 5-16 in league play.

Pair of Bellarmine swimmers make a splash at CCS

Jackson, Lynch earn 1st place finishes to help Bells to CCS title

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Bellarmine swimmers Scott Jackson and Eric Lynch have some things to brag about.

One thing that’s certainly bound to be mentioned is that the Bells won their 21st consecutive CCS title on May 14 at the swimming and diving finals held at Stanford University.

But another bragging point for both swimmers is the fact that they each earned first-place victories during the CCS swimming finals to help their team to that title.

“Our athletes work hard and swim well in every meet, but they know how to really step up for the big meets,” said Bellarmine Head Coach Larry Rogers. “We are blessed to have such a dedicated group of athletes. This was our 21st consecutive title and 23rd out of 24 years, and we are still amazed at how dedicated the athletes and their parents are to the pursuit of excellence both academically and athletically.”

Lynch, a senior at Bellarmine who lives in Willow Glen, gave his teammates a boost during the finals competition, swimming a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:26.95, just three seconds ahead of teammate Taylor Smith.

Coming into the finals, Lynch registered a time of 4:37.89 at the CCS preliminaries on May 13 after getting seeded in CCS with a 4:35.01 time. Yet Lynch was not first in either the seeding or preliminaries’ rankings; first place belonged to Smith instead. Shaving nearly 11 seconds off his preliminary time at the finals to win first place, Lynch was happy with the results.

“I was pretty pleased with it,” he said. Lynch also finished second behind Smith in the 200-yard freestyle at the finals. “I was mainly happy because I was a lot faster than last year.”

Heading to Harvard
Although his days at Bellarmine are drawing to a close, Lynch’s swimming career may just be taking off. He recently committed to Harvard University, where he will swim competitively for the next four years. To Lynch, Harvard was not only a chance to continue swimming, but also an opportunity to succeed academically.

“I just wanted to use swimming to get an academic opportunity that I might not otherwise have,” said Lynch, who is currently swimming competitively for the Santa Clara Swim Club before heading to Harvard later this summer.

Santa Clara Swim Club Co-Head Coach John Bitter said he was pleased with Lynch’s choice of school. In addition, Bitter said the difference in Lynch as a swimmer from his start as a beginner to now, as a senior, is astounding.

“He’s come so far in the time he’s been at Santa Clara (Swim Club), from a kid who was basically struggling to get through a workout, to where he all of a sudden dominates a workout,” Bitter said. “We see Eric having a great future in swimming. We see him as a person who can make Olympic trials and can actually get top-eight (finish) at Olympic trails. He has an outside chance of actually making it to the national team somewhere along the line.”

Father an Olympian
As for Jackson, whose father, Bob Jackson, was a member of the 1976 and 1980 Olympic swimming teams, his work in swimming still lies ahead. Jackson, a junior who lives on the border of both Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, placed first in two events, the 200-yard medley relay and the 100-yard backstroke.

In the 200-yard medley relay event, Jackson teamed with fellow Bells Mike Gartner, Scott McCoid and John Paul MacDonell for a first-place time of 1:34.78, cutting more than a second off the relay team’s preliminary time of 1:36.07. Jackson also registered a first-place win in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.02 seconds, just over two seconds less than his preliminary time of 52.13.

“I was pretty happy with my performance because we won our 200-medley relay and we almost got the CCS record (1:33.21),” Jackson said. “In the 100-backstroke, all I wanted to do was win it. I wanted to make the national cut as well, but I missed it by three-one-hundredths of a second. But the victory was really what I was seeking.”

For Jackson, who also competes for the Santa Clara Swim Club, this summer is as important as ever. Competitions will have extra meaning to him through the summer months as he tries to register a nationally ranked time in his event to better his chances of getting a swimming scholarship when he goes off to college after next year’s graduation.

“Our immediate goal is to get him to nationals, so he has national cuts,” Bitter said. “That puts him on the radar to be a high recruit next year as a senior.”

Regardless of where Jackson and Lynch may be headed in the future, one thing seems clear—swimming will be a part of it.