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DHS baseball mound staff serves notice
WOODLAND — First there were four, one-hit innings by Ben Eckels. Then George Hatamiya stepped to the mound, allowing just an infield single and fanning three in two innings. For dessert, Alec Miramontes struck out the side in a VERY short seventh.
“We pitched well,” Davis High coach Dan Ariola deadpanned after his Blue Devils opened the baseball season with a 7-1 victory over Woodland at Clark Field on Friday night.
“We played good defense, which was something we needed to do. (Fielding) was something we had trouble with in our scrimmages,” Ariola added.
Eckels, who allowed an unearned run in the fourth, was in control with seven strikeouts and no walks in his debut stint.
The lone Woodland tally came when Brandon DeAnda singled to right, went to second on a passed ball, stole third and came home on a Julio Sachs ground out.
Before DeAnda’s run, DHS had forged a 3-0 lead …
Josh Cosio gave evidence of a big night to come when he drove home Josh Merritt with a second-inning double. Merritt had reached on an infield single.
Later, Merritt was hit by a pitch leading off the fourth. After Cosio flew out, Hatamiya sliced a double to left, plating Merritt. The versatile junior Hatamiya scored after stealing third and coming in on Galen Hoshovsky’s groundout.
Hatamiya’s reward for setting up the inning was his mound assignment. Working out of a two-on, two-out jam, Hatamiya induced Wolves’ Adam Castelon into a grounder to third baseman Bobby Young. Devil first baseman Chase Hunt-Murray saved the day, digging out Young’s low throw to send the game to a productive top of the sixth.
Merritt walked into a pitch opening the inning before Cosio smacked a 2-0 pitch to the wall in left center, tripling home Merritt (who scored his third run of the night). Cosio scored when Hatamiya’s liner to short was dropped.
DHS scratched out two more runs in the seventh. Chris Gnos walked, followed by pinch hitter Miramontes hitting a single to right. Two wild pitches plated Gnos and took Miramontes all the way to third, before Cosio’s single to left made the final score, 7-1.
Cosio, who hit .339 last season, was 3-for-4 with three RBI and that run scored. Ariola says, at least for now, the senior center fielder will be his leadoff hitter.
“We want him up there to get more at bats,” Ariola explains. “That could change, but I want my best hitter to get the most bats of anyone.”
The strategy worked well with Cody Keefer (now at UCLA) a couple seasons ago and Ariola hopes the same magic comes from Cosio. Keefer left DHS with a .414. lifetime average.
“And we’re still trying to find a spot for Merritt,” Ariola said of his Friday No. 9 hitter.
“We just ran into a good pitching staff,” Woodland mentor Felix Castillo said after his Wolves fell to 1-1 on the young season. “Yes, I was pleased with (starting pitcher Alex Ruiz’s) outing. We have a tough schedule and hitting against teams like this and like Antelope and Pleasant Grove will make us better hitters.”
Castillo has games ahead where he will face his Woodland coaching predecessors (DHS grad Rob Rinaldi at PGHS and Javy Valdivia at Antelope).
A busy week is ahead for Davis, as Vacaville comes to town on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) then the Devils hit the road for Sheldon (Thursday, 3:30 p.m.) and Yuba City (Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Notes: Ariola says Miramontes should get the next start against the Bulldogs. Then, Jack Shelledy will take the mound at Sheldon with Eckels toeing the rubber in Honkerville. … Castillo said his battery of Ruiz and catcher Clay Gordon were having a tough time picking each other up: “First, we painted Clay’s fingers. Then Ruiz had to put his glasses on. They settled in.” Ruiz went five-plus innings, allowed only four hits and four earned runs before being relieved by Jacob Sissom.
— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047. Comment on this story at www.davisenterprise.com
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