San Marino’s road to the Rio Hondo League baseball title last season wasn’t easy, especially considering the Titans dropped their first four league games on the way to the crown.
This season San Marino hopes to make the path to defending the title a little more direct.
The first step came on the road against host Monrovia.
San Marino won a pitching duel, thanks to ace Tomás Bilvado, and blanked the host Wildcats 4-0 on Feb. 29 in the league opener for both schools.
“This is my third year here and my first time getting a win in the first game of league, so, obviously, it’s big,” San Marino coach John Franklin said. “We had our ace going, so it’s something that we really wanted.”
Bilvado pitched a complete game shutout victory for San Marino. The junior held Monrovia (7-2 overall, 1-1 in league as of March 5) hitless through the first five innings and surrendered just three hits overall while striking out seven.
“Honestly, my fastball was working the best,” Bilvado said. “Just pumping it and feeling it.”
The Titan defense also backed him up, turning a double play in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Monrovia started left-hander Zachary Menlove, who pitched four scoreless innings before the Titans touched up the senior for three runs in the top of the fifth.
“Menlove was out there dicing it up too. Our guys took a while to figure him out, then had that inning that kind of broke the game open a little bit,” Franklin said.
In the fifth, with one out, senior Sid Danenhauer hit a ball to the right center field gap that the Monrovia fielder dove for, but was only able to snag on a hop for a single. Titans senior Coleman Morning followed with a single grounded past the shortstop. Then, with senior Ryan Park at bat, a wild pitch advanced Danenhauer and Morning to second and third. Soon after, Park grounded a ball to the Wildcat shortstop, who decided to throw home, but it was too late as Danenhauer scored and everyone was safe, breaking the scoreless tie.
Titans junior Jamie Bercaw then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Park to second with Morning still at third. Bilvado struck out for what would have been the third out, but the third strike got away from the catcher. As the Wildcat backstop retrieved the ball, one run scored and, as his throw sailed over the base at first, another came across.
“It wasn’t like our pitching was bad. We just put ourselves in a couple spots,” Monrovia coach Brad Blackmore said. “The ground ball [by Morning] that got through at short could have been a double-play ball. Then we got the strikeout at home plate and it was a tough block and the ball went through to the backstop. We throw to first, and we had the guy running inside the line. We thought that should have been an interference call; they didn’t call it. It’s a 50-50 call and they didn’t call it, so that led to two cheap runs right there.”
Menlove then gave way to James Quesenbery, who recorded the final out with the visitors now up 3-0.
In the top of the sixth, with Quesenbery still on the mound, the Titans tacked on an insurance run. San Marino senior Liam Van Fossan led off, legging out safely to first base after the Wildcat shortstop initially had trouble gathering the ball from his glove. Titans senior Mikey Yessaian then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance pinch runner senior Carson Herren to second. The next Titan struck out, but Danenhauer came through with a hot shot that ate up the Wildcat second baseman on the way to right field for a single and an RBI.
The no-hit bid for Bilvado came to an end in the bottom of the sixth. Isaac Diaz led off for the hosts and lined a ball into the right-center gap. A Titan right fielder ran toward it, reached across his body and got his glove to the ball, but it bounced off the end of the leather for a single and the hosts’ first hit in league play.
“Tomás pitched well. It’s expected almost every time. It’s going to be even more shocking if he doesn’t pitch well,” Franklin said. “He went out there and he attacked. He was very close to a no-hitter, almost had that driving play in the outfield that could have saved it [at that point].”
In the top of the seventh, Bilvado surrendered a clean single up the middle to Joshua Griffiths to start the frame. One batter later, Isaias Hernandez gave the hosts runners at the corners with a one-out single to left field. Bilvado then struck out the next batter before inducing a groundout to end his complete game shutout win to open league play.
“I think this first one really sets the tone,” Bilvado said. “We’re ready to just go after it. Everyone is out for us since what we did last year, so I think we are just ready to compete this year.”
SAN MARINO 8,
FOOTHILL TECH 4
Morning drove in two runs, and finished 3-for-4, including a double, in San Marino’s four-run victory at home Feb. 27.
Titans junior JJ Wilson also went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Park hit a double and finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Danenhauer grabbed two base hits an RBI, Herren recorded an RBI and a run scored, Yessian tallied a base hit, an RBI and a run scored, and Bercaw finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
SAN MARINO 9,
PIONEER 1
The Titans winning streak stretched to six consecutive victories with a win on the road on March 1.
San Marino sophomore JT Lu-Morris scattered six hits, yielded one run and struck out five across six innings of work before Strauss came in for one inning of relief, allowing one hit.
Bercaw drove in three runs and recorded a triple, while Park, Danenhauer and Yessaian each tallied an RBI. JJ Wilson had two hits, including a double, and two runs scored. Park, Herren, Yessaian and Parker Wilson each got a base hit, while Morning finished the game 3-for-4 and a run scored.
TEMPLE CITY 1, SAN MARINO 0
in 9 innings
The Titans and Rams went the distance in their first league matchup of the season, but it was the host Temple City that prevailed after nine innings.
Freshman Chase Mena and Bercaw tallied a pair of hits, and Park, Danenhauer, Morning, Van Fossan and Yessaian each recorded a base hit.
JJ Wilson worked six innings on the mound, yielding two hits, three walks and seven strikeouts, while Bilvado pitched three innings for three strikeouts, one walk and one unearned run scored.
The Titans are 8-2 overall and 1-1 in league and will take part in a pair of nonleague games before meeting South Pasadena in an away league game March 11.
First published in the March 7 issue of the San Marino Tribune
