Apples in playoff race after comeback win

With runners on first and second, Sebastopol’s Alex Bell (not pictured) strikes out Tony Oliverias for the final out of the game. Photo by Matt Hanlon

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

Sebastopol began the week with fleeting hopes of a season. But after back-to-back wins, the Apples’ record is two games above .500 and their playoff hopes are nearing fruition.

The most recent win was evidence to the Apples rebound from a slow start this season. After going down early in the game, the Apples surged offensively to defeat the Cloverdale Bandits 8-5 at Cardinal Newman High School on Saturday.

Apples coach Randy Hanna was after all optimism after the game.

“We won two good games this week,” he said. “We’re coming through as a good team. We’re going to be a contender (for the playoffs).”

Sebastopol’s first win of the week came the night before, an 8-5 win over Rohnert Park. But that win was overshadowed by Saturday’s game in which Sebastopol twice was forced to rally back from a deficit.

The Apples (5-3) trailed 4-2 in the seventh but brought four runs across in the inning, three coming off the bat of a two-out double by Tom Harris. The seventh inning onslaught was enough as the Apples’ staff was able to hold Cloverdale (2-5) to one run in the final three innings.

Sebastopol starter Neil St. Marie earned the win with seven strong innings. He allowed three runs on six hits and three walks. Jason Porter and Alex Bell finished the game with Bell allowing the final Bandits run before recording the save.

The Bandits were on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth off a single by Rigo Jacinto. But Sebastopol responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning when recent roster addendum Randall Packard yanked a solo home run off the scoreboard behind right field.

The Bandits regained the lead in the sixth off a two-RBI single by Malcolm Jordan. Jordan scored later in the inning off a wild pitch to push the Bandits lead to 4-1, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Sebastopol’s hot bats.

Cloverdale struggled to capitalize on offensive opportunities throughout the latter half of the game. The Bandits stranded ten baserunners total, including two in the top of the ninth.