Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel and Jim Seimas:
WATSONVILLE -- What was expected to be a low-scoring duel between two NCAA Division I-bound pitchers was anything but close.
The St. Francis High baseball team -- which has finished in last place in five of its six years of existence -- pulled off another stunning win Tuesday, routing storied Soquel 14-2 in a matchup of Santa Cruz County's two top-ranked teams.
With the win, the No. 1 Sharks improve to 17-5 overall and 8-0 in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League as they continue streaking toward their first league title. St. Francis -- which features just two seniors in its lineup -- finished a school-best 4-8 last season in league for fifth place out of seven teams. Every player from the '12 team returns.
"We knew what we had here was something special, right from the beginning," Sharks outfielder RJ Zuniga said. "We knew the players had some sort of connection I've never seen before. ... To me, this is not shocking. With hard work comes results and right now we're getting results. This team has worked incredibly hard."
The Sharks were backed with another effective outing from Fresno State commit Dillon Houser, a 6-foot-4 left-hander. He scattered eight hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out five batters and walking one. "We came out knowing we were going to hit and we did just that," Houser said. "The intensity never got in the dugout. We stayed loud and we just played our ballgame. And it was a great game. We're all very excited for the rest of the season. We can't be any more pumped than we are right now."
St. Francis aims to keep momentum rolling Friday, when it hosts Santa Cruz (6-16, 1-6), and Tuesday, when it hosts Scotts Valley (14-6, 6-2). The Falcons now sit in second place -- a half-game ahead of Soquel.
Though it looks like the Sharks would need a monumental collapse to relinquish their league lead with four regular-season games left, Sharks coach Ken Nakagawa refused to address the subject. "One game at a time," he said. "One game at a time."
Soquel (8-10-1, 5-2) hosts San Lorenzo Valley (9-10, 2-5) on Friday, a day before it welcomes back suspended starters Fabiano Hale and Scott Akrop. They have missed two weeks for violating team rules. Their absence was of little consequence against the Sharks.
"This is one of those games where, they beat us today. They beat us," said Knights coach Robert Zuniga. "We played good baseball for three or four innings and they started putting the ball in play. And that's how they've been successful this year, they put the ball in play."
Stanford-bound pitcher Chris Viall, a 6-foot-7 right-hander who was clocked with a 92-mph fastball Tuesday, took the loss. The Sharks took advantage of roped fastballs, bleeders and bloopers, and a couple of wind-aided home runs to break the game open.
Nakagawa said the Sharks gained confidence at the Bishop Gorman tournament in Las Vegas over Easter break, when they saw plenty of heavily scouted talent. "We can hit fastballs," he added.
David Gugale hit his fourth home run of the season -- a solo shot in the second inning -- and diminutive leadoff hitter Sahid Valenzuela hit a three-run shot off reliever Carlos Rubalcaba in the fifth. Both homers were aided by heavy winds blowing out to right field.
Gugale finished 2-for-3 and scored twice while Valenzuela, a slick-fielding freshman second baseman, went 3-for-5.
The Sharks sent 10 runners to the plate in both the fourth and fifth innings -- combining for 11 runs in those frames -- and finished with 15 hits.
Every player in the Sharks' lineup scored at least once. Josh Rodriguez finished 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored and Zuniga -- whose father Robert is the head coach of Soquel -- went 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs.
Said dad: "He had the game of his life today. As a head coach, you want your team to be successful, but as a dad, I'm very proud right now."