SACRAMENTO — What do you get when you cross two walks with a four-hitter and throw in a wind-aided triple?

If you happen to be a Davis High baseball player, you get a shot at winning the north division of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.

On Thursday, before a crowd of 500-plus at Union Stadium, Blue Devil ace Ben Eckels sent Vacaville packing, 2-1.

Now, DHS has to beat white-hot Franklin twice Friday at the same venue on campus at Sacramento City College to win the North title. Game time is 4 p.m. The Wildcats, who finished third in Delta Valley Conference behind the co-champion Devils, nipped the locals, 8-6, on Tuesday, forcing them into Thursday’s must-win outing.

Eckels proved magnificent.

In hurling a 102-pitch complete game, Eckels (7-2) fanned 11, walked two and allowed only one runner to go past first after the Bulldogs scored their only tally in the second inning.

“Ben dominated — and their guy (junior Elway Santistevan) did too,” DHS skipper Dan Ariola said after watching his team go to 24-7 on the year. “We heard (Santistevan) was tough, and he was. He was an Ethan Guevin.”

Guevin, now a bench coach at Cal, was a key pitching ingredient in Davis’ 2004 CIF pennant.

“But (Thursday) was all about Ben,” Ariola said of the pitching-duel victory.

The Blue Devils did all their scoring in the bottom of the first inning when George Hatamiya and Joe Murray opened with walks.

Wild pitches set Hatamiya up at third, and when Murray swiped second, it enabled Bobby Young’s one-out bouncer to third to score the DHS lead-off hitter.

Murray would come in when Vacaville’s right fielder Cory McGuire chased Eckels’ towering, breeze-aided fly ball to no avail. Turning into a triple, it would be the only extra-base hit of the contest.

When Eckels was left stranded, it marked the last time Davis had a player beyond first base.

Vacaville’s McGuire opened the second with a walk and advanced 90 feet when Eckels’ pick-off attempt eluded first baseman John Ariola. Blake Hannah’s looper to left plated McGuire as the game settled into a showcase of wicked pitching.

Eckels told The Enterprise he relied on his slider, mentioning “I was getting the curve up a little too much.”

Ariola and Eckels confirmed that the senior professional prospect is “shut down” for any mound duty Friday.

“I honestly don’t know who will go in that first game,” Ariola added. “If I have a healthy Reinert (Toft), he’s my choice. It could be (sophomore) Matt Trask. I just don’t know yet.

“And we have Hatamiya available.”

Win twice (if necessary, a second game is at 7 p.m.) and the Devils will travel next week to take on the south-division champs at Pacific in a best out of three series. DHS won the crown in 2000 and 2004.

Notes: Davis went 2-1 against Vacaville this spring, both wins coming in the section tourney. … The 5-foot-7 lefty Stantistevan lost for the first time in 2012 in his first ever appearance against the Devils. … Any guesses at what Elway Stantistevan wears for a number? (Consult the 1985 Denver Broncos’ roster). … Coach Abe Hobbs’ Bulldogs end the year at 19-11 after finishing second in the Monticello Empire League. … The other DHS hit was a sixth-inning single by Murray, who was promptly erased on a double play.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] View galleries and purchase prints of Blue Devil sports photos at http://davisenterprise.zenfolio.com.

0525ecklesW

DHS pitcher Ben Eckels was spectacular in the Blue Devils’ 2-1 section playoff win over Vacaville on Thursday at Sacramento City College. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

Comments

comments