Shades of 1901 Tigers in late slugfest; State player of the Week

2026 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

East County Sports.com

SAN CARLOS — Major League Baseball might note that this Saturday will be the 125th anniversary of famous game, when the Detroit Tigers were playing their first-ever American League ballgame, hosting the original Mileaukee Brewers.

Why was this game so historic, other being the first “base ball” (2 words back then) in the city’s history in the “Junior Circuit” when it was elevated from minor league status.

A record, which still stands, occurred, when the Tigers scored — count ’em! — 10 times in the bottom of the ninth inning to shock the Brewers, 14-13.

Few of the estimated, sell-out crowd of 8,000 at Bennett Park were around to witness the remarkable achievement.

How ugly was this contest? The Tigers committed an unsightly seven errors, yet still won. The pro baseball record is 12, also by the Tigers, as a member of the American Association in 1893, then a week later on May 1, 1901, to establish the American League mark which also still stands.

Game Stuff

Why is this significant? Because in Wednesday’s (Apr. 22) battle for first place in the Western League, a pitchers’ duel became an offensive free-for-all, as the top-ranked Cathedral Catholc Dons outlasted the host Patrick Henry Patriots, 11-5, to grab sole possession of first place.

Did we note: the game was scoreless with just a total of four combined hits entering the fifth innings?

Cathedral (19-1 overall; the loss was to Helix) opened the scoring with three runs in the fifth, although the last two markers were unearned.

But when Patrick Henry elected to go with Tyson Bob, normally starting pitcher, for a relief sixth in the sixth, the fired-up Patriots reversed course to tie the ballgame.

Unfortunately, the Dons also matched the Tigers with an 8-spot in the seventh for an 11-3 led. The Pats answered with two runs in the inning’s home-half.

They also placed additional runners on base to leave the potential game-tying run “in the hole” awaiting to step onto the on-deck circle — a Tigers-esque vibe was growing–but the Dons escaped when catcher Evan DePodesta fired a strike to first base to pick-off a runner for the third out.

The expected duel on the mound between Cathedral Catholic’s Shoei Darvish and the Pats’ Jimmy Gunn went as expected.

Darvish fired 1-hit ball for five innings before getting tagged in the sixth, yet still collected the victory when the Dons broke the 3-all tie in the seventh.

Gunn tossed shutout ball for 4.1 innings until a double by second baseman Jonas Nalu opened the scoring, then a pair of errors pushed the margin to 3-0.

Bobo entered in the sixth and posted a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout, allowing the Pats to counter-attack.

Included was an RBI double by Gunn to end the shutout bid, Parks Kronk lifted a sacrifice fly, then Ian Brooke delivered a game-tying, two-out single to level the score.

The Dons’ big inning started on a two-run, go-ahead single by Ty Daniels. The rally included seven hits, including two-run doubles by Alex Harrington and Joshua Priest, two walks, and an error.

Cathedral Catholic, which did not participate in the Boras Classic this season, remains behind Orange Lutheran in the CalHiSpors state rankings. Patrick Henry (13-7) falls one game behind the Dons (3-0), in a deadlock with St. Augustine and Point Loma for second place at 2-1 in league.

Avocado League
Ramona 15, Vista 3
At Vista, in Monday’s Avocado League series opener, Ramona broke open a close ballgame by closing the contest with 16 unanswered runs in a 19-2 romp over Vista.

In Wednesday’s second game of the series, the Bulldogs opened with 12 straight runs, giving them 28 consecutive runs in another wipe-out of the Panthers.

Already leading 2-0, first baseman Tallon Ogilvie doubled the margin with a two-run homer in the third inning.

In the fourth, Cal Melendez added a solo shot, then the Dawgs tacked on seven more markers in the outburst for a 12-0 cushion.

Melendez batted a second time in the big inning, lining an RBI single in the 8-run explosion. Melendez also added a run-scoring double in the fifth, falling a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Meanwhile, Ramona pitcher Alex Wilson continued the team’s scoreless string, firing shutout ball into the fifth inning by scattering just three hits. Wilson struck out six Vista batters.

–– Nick Pellegrino

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Motes

STOCKTON — Poway Titans senior Parker Smith has been named the CalHiSports‘ Southern California Athlete of the Week.

Read more here:  CalHiSports

 

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