Manteca was shut out for the first time in more than a year on Tuesday, dropping a 3-2 decision to seventh-seeded El Capitan in game 1 of a best-of-three semifinal.
The Sac-Joaquin Section Division III series shifts to Merced on Thursday, with the “if” game to follow on Friday.
The No. 3 Buffaloes (22-9) are not unfamiliar with this spot, having lost three-game series openers to Oakdale and East Union in Valley Oak League play. They came back to with both on the way to a runner-up finish.
They’re hoping to conjure up that magic once again but with more at stake. Manteca will have to win back-to-back against a red-hot Gauchos (24-7) club that has won 13 straight to make it back to a section final for the first time since claiming the Division III crown 10 years ago.
“They’ve been here before, and that was kind of what our (postgame) talk was about over there,” Manteca coach Mark Ruiz said. “I don’t want to say they’re used to it, but they’re ready to compete and they never give up. They are a resilient group. We’ll be all right.”
Backed by timely hitting and defense, El Capitan pitchers Matt McQuillen and Brennan Casey combined for the shutout. McQuillen gave up five hits, walked four and struck out three over three innings. Case struck out two of the four batters he faced in the seventh for the save.
“You can tell they’re a very scary team at the plate,” El Capitan coach Aaron Ruiz said. “They just have pop all over their lineup, their statistics say it, and we know it. We were nervous, but our pitcher was able to step up and kind of keep them off balance a little bit, and we played good defense behind him.”
Manteca had base runners in every inning, stranding nine in total. The tone was set early for the Buffs’ offense.
They had a chance to immediately answer El Cap’s two-run first inning after getting two on base with one out in the bottom half. McQuillan got out of it by inducing a routine groundball from clean-up hitter Devon Richardson for a double play.
In the second, Brixton Menchaca-Ortiz, who finished 2 for 3, hit a leadoff double but was left on third.
Manteca threatened again to break the ice in the third inning when Brody Carabello reached on a two-base error. He was also stranded on third.
The backbreaker came in the fifth. The Buffaloes again had two runners on with one out, but Nate Slikker lined into a double play to third baseman Travis Pavey.
“We made some hard outs today,” Mark Ruiz said. “It’s not like we were just 1-2-3 every inning. We Starting pitcher Jeremy Cross and his defense did enough to keep Manteca in striking distance all game. Carson Sablan made a run-preventing catch, diving in the right-center field gap for the the final out in the second inning. Pavey, who led off the inning with a double, was left on third for El Capitan.
That helped kick off a stretch of 10 consecutive batters retired by Cross, who surrendered seven hits and no walks in six innings while striking out four. Zach Hunter snapped the Gauchos out of their mid-game funk with a one-out, ground-rule double in the fifth inning. He scored on a hit by Aidan Witt.
“I didn’t start off as strong as I wanted to, but I know how to make adjustments and how to work pitches and how to get them where I need them to go,” Cross said. “I always have a good defense. I had a few mistakes, but they backed me up good today.”
El Capitan got its two early runs after a heads-up defensive play by Manteca third baseman Noah Navarro prevented one. Navarro fielded a sharp grounder from McQuillen, and he threw out Witt at home for the second out.
The Gauchos still had runners on the corners, and Angel Rivera was able to plate the first run on a wild pitch. McQuillen advanced twice on wild pitches and was knocked in by Noah Ruiz’s double.
“It’s big on the road (to score first),” Aaron Ruiz said. “You travel to somebody’s place, especially with their best guy (on the mound), based on the numbers; we were blessed to scratch in two early and kind of set the tone.”
His Central California Conference champion Gauchos will look to sweep at their home field Thursday starting at 4. In the other semifinal, top-seeded Rio Americano (25-6) edged out Capital Valley Conference rival Christian Brothers (15-15), 1-0.
