EULA — For seven full innings Wednesday, Stamford’s Alek Hernandez and Coleman’s Brayden Torres went toe to toe and blow for blow like a couple of heavyweight champs.
With each looking to pitch his team to an early advantage in a high-profile Region I-2A Division II bi-district series between the Bulldogs and Bluecats, the senior starters delivered a pitcher’s duel for the ages in front of a strong and appreciative crowd at the Eula Athletic Complex.
In the end, a single run was all that separated the two, and it took seven innings to score as Hernandez and his SHS teammates outlasted Torres and the Bluecats 1-0 in a thrilling series opener that had both coaches feeling romantic about baseball in its aftermath.
“Hats off to my guys and hats off to their guys — that was a great game,” Stamford coach Steven Gould said. “These games are the most fun to play and coach in. Even if we had come out on the other end, it’s more fun to play in this type of game than a 20-0 game or something like that.”
Added Coleman coach Keith Meador: “We knew it was going to be a good, close game, and both pitchers did an extremely good job of working ahead and throwing strikes. It was just a good, fun baseball game.”
Before the final inning, which saw Stamford right fielder Ace Martinez break a scoreless tie with bases-loaded fielder’s choice grounder, the two teams had combined for just five baserunners and only three of those managed to reach scoring position.
Utilizing different styles to achieve the same goals, Hernandez and Torres maintained near complete control of the game, deftly pitching out of any slight trouble they found themselves in through six scoreless innings.
Heading into the final frame, Torres was working on a two-hitter with no walks allowed, while his counterpart had surrendered just one hit and one walk to pair each zero attributed to the visitors with a matching on the home half of the scoreboard.
Due to a pair of errors, the Coleman starter endured a little more stress getting to that point, but jams were still few and far between, and he escaped each one with a stoic calm to keep his team in a position to win until the end.
The toughest spot either pitcher found himself in before a suspenseful final act came in the top of the fourth inning, when Stamford’s speedy shortstop Brayden Jimenez reached on an error to lead off the frame, advanced to second on a balk and moved to third on a groundout by Carlos Vega.
But with one out and Jimenez 90 feet from home plate, Torres got Miles Follis to pop out, before striking out Mason Mueller to wiggle out of the jam.
“Their pitcher did a great job of pounding the zone, keeping us off balance with his curveball and just getting the ball where it needed to be to get us out throughout the game,” Gould said. “In that first inning, we had a drive to right-center. Off the bat, I thought it had a really good chance, and it got right there. That gave me some encouragement, but then he came right back and did a really good job of keeping us off the bases.”
Coleman, which broke up Hernandez’s no-hit bid in the bottom of the fourth on an infield single by Torres, got its first runner to scoring position an inning later, when Jett Black drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a balk. But Stamford’s talented ace recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Chantz Adams and Darren Hurtado to escape the inning unscathed.
“We struck out way too many times,” Meador said. “We’ve got to do a better job of putting the ball in play to try to put a little pressure on them and make them make some plays.”
Stamford threatened again in the sixth, when Levi Vahlenkamp followed a Mahsyn Alvarado pop out with a hard ground ball down the third-base line that Paul Salas made an impressive diving effort to stop. But in his haste to get back to his feet, the CHS third baseman’s throw sailed wide of first, allowing Vahlenkamp to advance to second with one out.
But after a sacrifice bunt by Jimenez moved the runner to third, Torres got Vega to ground out again to get out of the inning.
After knocking on the door in the fifth and sixth innings, Stamford finally broke through in the top of the seventh, recording three of its five hits (all singles) during the game’s only scoring rally.
The first led off the inning, when Follis shot a grounder past Salas and into foul territory down the third-base line. Following a Mueller strikeout, Hernandez helped himself with a perfectly executed hit-and-run into the vacated shortstop hole to give the Bulldogs runners on first and second with one out.
Torres then drew a potential double-play grounder from Ryan Lynch, but Coleman shortstop Hunter Edington hesitated upon fielding it and threw late to first, allowing Lynch to reach with an infield single. That loaded the bases for Martinez, who hit a grounder to Townes Fulbright at second to bring home Follis.
“That’s probably the most excited I’ve been all year long, just because I was asking everybody to do something, and they all executed it to get the run home,” Gould said. “We work on working the ball to the right side with a runner on third, and Ace came up and did exactly what he needed to do to get the run home.
“Just situational hitting right there in the last inning was huge.”
With runners on the corners after Martinez’s fielder’s choice, Torres avoided further damage, getting Alvarado to pop up to Fulbright to keep the score 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Coleman didn’t go down quietly in the home half of the final inning. After a well struck fly out by Salas to lead off the frame, Edington shot a line drive into center for a single before giving way on the bases to pinch runner Kyle Chambers.
Chambers moved to second when confusion on a dropped third strike resulted in an unnecessary throw to first, setting the table for Easton Meador, who was brought in to pinch hit for Black. Meador was immediately intentionally walked, though, giving Adams a chance to be the hero.
The Coleman right fielder put up a heck of a fight, fouling off seven pitches during a 12-pitch at-bat, but Hernandez eventually won the battle, freezing Adams on a full count to end the game.
The strikeout was the 14th of the game for Hernandez, compared to six for Torres, who pitched more to soft contact.
“He told me before the game, ‘I want to the whole game,'” Gould said of his senior ace. “I told him, ‘I want you to have the whole game, too.’ But he came out here and did a great job of keeping his pitch count down to where he could finish the game.
“That last batter for them, he battled. That was a battle between him and Alek. He fouled off, I think, five straight, maybe more. That’s tough as a pitcher to try to come back and get the out, but finally he got in a spot where the guy thought it might be a ball and got it. But Alek has been like that ever since his sophomore year. I’m just so glad he’s on my team.”
With Wednesday’s game in the books, the teams will return to Eula at 4:30 p.m. Thursday for Game 2. A decisive third game would be played on Monday if Coleman should even the series.
“I just want to see us be better at the plate, put the ball in play more and just have better at bats,” Coach Meador said. “We just need to hit the ball.”
REGION I-2A DIV. II BI-DISTRICT
GAME 1
STAMFORD 1, COLEMAN 0
| 123 | 456 | 7 | — | R | H | E | |
| Stamford | 000 | 000 | 1 | — | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Coleman | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Alek Hernandez and Karsten Hall. Brayden Torres and Brady Elder. W — Hernandez. L — Torres.
Records — Stamford 16-6; Coleman 16-6.