Merced Union High School District

The El Capitan High bats caught fire during their run to Wednesday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship. However, Rio Americano ace Joey Dormann and lefty reliever Connor Flynn silenced the Gauchos offense as they combined for a two-hit shutout as the top-seeded Raiders defeated No. 7 El Capitan 3-0 to win the section title at Sacramento City College. 

 

Dormann and Flynn relied on their defense as they combined for just two strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Raiders defense made some highlight plays to prevent the Gauchos from mounting any serious threats throughout the game. There were diving plays in the outfield and some dazzling plays at shortstop by Trey Howell-Chase as Rio Americano won its first section title in 30 years. 

 

The Gauchos (25-8) came into the title game with the momentum of a 14-game winning streak. Their offense had been rolling, averaging close to eight runs per game during that stretch, which included a quarterfinal win over No. 2 Vista Del Lago and a two-game semifinal sweep over No. 3 Manteca.

 

“We had some tough at bats, we had some good at bats and when we hit the ball hard we hit it right at them,” said El Capitan High coach Aaron Ruiz. “When we hit the ball hard and it wasn’t right at them, they made some great plays. That’s the name of the game, whichever team does the little things better is going to win and I thought they did it better.”

 

The Gauchos received a hero’s sendoff earlier in the day as the team was given a police escort to Highway 99 from the school. Students lined up as the team made their way to their vehicles. There was even a police helicopter flying overhead. The Gauchos also had plenty of support in the stands as students rode a rooter bus and joined other family and friends who made the two-hour drive north to fill the visitor side of the stadium as the Gauchos made their first championship game appearance since 2016.

 

El Capitan right-hander Zach Hunter did his part to keep the Gauchos in the game, pitching a complete game and limiting a high-octane offense to just three runs on six hits. The Raiders outscored their opponents 47 to 3 in their four playoff wins and hit over .350 as a team on the season. 

 

Hunter struck out six and maintained his composure in the big-game atmosphere. “They were putting a lot of balls in play, and they got a couple untimely hits,” Hunter said. “I felt I was getting a lot of weak contact and some big strikeouts. I feel I stayed within myself and didn’t let the crowd or the talk… get to me.”

 

Ruiz says he couldn’t have asked more from his pitcher. “Zach did a great job,” Ruiz said. “He did exactly what he was supposed to do today. Zach kept his cool throughout everything. He made the pitches when he needed to make them. Unfortunately in the end we didn’t have the offense we needed today.”

 

The Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with four hits in the frame, including RBI-singles by Luke Rolli and Howell-Chase. Howell-Chase then led off the fifth inning with a triple to left and scored on a sacrifice fly by Everett Filippo to extend the lead to 3-0. That was all the offensive support Dormann needed as he improved to 10-0 on the mound this season.

 

El Capitan’s Angel Rivera and Aidan Witt accounted for the only two hits and the Gauchos never had a baserunner advance past second base. Fortunately for El Capitan, its season is not over. The Gauchos still have the NorCal Regional playoffs, which begin on June 2nd. “We’ve got a lot more ball to play,” Ruiz said. “We played in this big game, we felt it, we felt the way it is, there’s going to be more big games coming with state and we’ll be ready for it.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.