St. Francis split its opening series of Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan division action against Salinas.
The Sharks (2-3, 1-1) dropped Game 1, 9-3, in Salinas (4-2, 1-1) on Monday, but bounced back with a 3-2 win in Game 2 on Wednesday in Watsonville.
Sophomore pitcher Ruben Castaneda gutted out a complete-game win for St. Francis in Game 2. The young hurler relied on his defense plenty, as he allowed eight hits to only one walk and one strikeout.
In Monday’s loss, Domenic Cordova and C.J. Gomez each doubled and scored a run.
St. Francis will play San Benito in a two-game series starting today at 3:30 p.m. in Watsonville. Game 2 is scheduled for March 19 at 3:30 p.m.
In other high school baseball action from March 7-13:
• M.V.C. sweeps Palma – A blowout one day. A comeback win the next.
The Mustangs (5-1, 2-0) started PCAL-Gabilan play with a 17-2 five-inning rout of the Chieftains (4-2, 0-2) on Tuesday, and won the series with an impressive 10-6 come-from-behind victory on Wednesday.
Senior Jason Bettencourt was 4-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and three scored runs on Tuesday. Marshall Silva also homered, scored twice and drove in three runs, while Quinn Alexander and Roberto Nunez doubled. Nunez also went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two scored runs.
On Wednesday, M.V.C. trailed 6-1 heading into the seventh inning, but rallied for nine runs to stun host Palma.
Alexander had three RBI and Tyler Keenan was 2-for-3 with a triple, an RBI and a scored run.
M.V.C. starts a two-game series against Gilroy today on the road. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
• N.M.C. 5, Stevenson 0 – Jorge Madrigal hit his first homer of the year in the Condors’ PCAL-Cypress win on Wednesday.
Chris Villareal was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases for the Condors, who travel to Morgan Hill on Saturday to play Sobrato at noon.
• Pacific Grove 5, Watsonville 1 – Jeremy Diaz had six strikeouts over five innings in the Wildcatz’s PCAL-Mission loss on Tuesday.
Watsonville welcomes in Carmel tonight at 7 p.m. in the first game of a two-game series.
