Titans erase 5-run deficit to stun Stars
| Friday, May 22 2009 11:02 PM
Last Updated Friday, May 22 2009 11:02 PM
With a five-run lead over league rival Frontier, the North High baseball team was cruising, just six outs away from a trip to the Central Section Div. II semifinals.
Then the wheels fell off.
Sophomore Blayne Ontiveros capped five-run sixth with his second home run of the game, three-run shot, then added an RBI single as part of an 11-run seventh as the Titans rallied for an improbable 18-8 victory Friday afternoon at North.
"Basically it was just a team effort," Ontiveros said. "Everybody came through at the right time."
Frontier (18-10-1) will face Fresno-Edison, an 8-5 winner over Visalia-Golden West. The game is slated for Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
"All year we've been talking about not giving up and we started counting down outs and we have to get something started," Frontier coach Josh Witcher said. "Our guys just never stopped. It's what we stress and hitting is contagious when it gets crazy like that; anywhere from drag bunts to bleeders and balls that were hit hard. The kids didn't give up."
On the heels of their five-run sixth, the Titans sent 16 batters to the plate. Ten straight batters reached base, as Frontier made the most of seven hits, five walks and a hit batter.
North built its early 6-2 lead on the strength of nine hits off Ontiveros, who was admittedly tired after pitching five-plus innings in Wednesday's playoff opener, and then added another run off reliever Ryan Edmaiston to make it 7-2 in the fifth.
"(My arm) was a little bit sore, but it started to work itself out," Ontiveros said. "But this was almost like a Valley championship for us."
Seniors Brock Peterson and Aaron Brown each hit home runs in the second inning to erase an early 2-1 deficit. Brown's two-run blast capped a four-run inning and gave the Stars (20-10) a 5-2 lead.
Nathan Ketelhut, who was 3-for-4, led off the third with a double, moved to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Darric Carney to make it 6-2.
Frontier, who had just two hits in the first five innings against North starter Travis Gifford, finished with 14 hits. Luke Pomales had a triple and a double, and Michael Spingola and Ben Machado added two hits apiece.
"It was a little messy on both sides, but you have to leave it up to the kids and the kids came to play today," Witcher said.
