On the final day of the regular season, the Channel League baseball championship was still undecided, with three teams still in the hunt to secure the title.
Two of those three teams squared off at Joe Mueller Field on Thursday as San Marcos played host to Rio Mesa, with the Royals coming out on top 4-1 behind a strong effort on the mound by Erik Perez.
“That’s a hell of a team over there,” San Marcos coach Wes Ghan-Gibson said. “Those guys are scrappy, I love the way they play and I tip my cap to everything they stand for and the work that coach has done.”
Despite San Marcos getting the job done, Santa Barbara High defeated Ventura down south to clinch the Channel League title.
With these results, the Dons (10-4) finished the year in first place followed by, in order, the Royals (9-4-1), Rio Mesa (9-5) and Pacifica (9-5).
After the game, San Marcos celebrated the senior class of Ari Rabinowitz, Erik Perez, Dayne Dreste, Steven Bradley, Jaxx Satterfield, Logan Stevenson, Holden Bougie and Palmer Kostrzewa.
As for the season finale itself, Perez got things started with an efficient 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first.
Following back-to-back outs in the bottom half, Perez roped a single into left field and advanced to second on a balk.
Mason Crang then walked and Landon Johnson came through with a line-drive RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.
Perez continued to mow through the Rio Mesa lineup, tossing up scoreless frames in the second and third innings to maintain his team’s one-run advantage.
In the bottom of the third, the sophomore duo of Crang and Johnson came through for the Royals.
After a double off the bat of Dayne Dreste, Crang crushed a ball to the left-field wall for a double of his own and to extend the lead to 2-0.
Johnson then stepped to the plate and pummeled a ball over the right-field fence to send a jolt through the San Marcos dugout and give them a 4-0 lead.
“Those two sophomores are in the cage every night until 9 o’clock,” Ghan-Gibson said of Crang and Johnson. “I think the work came through today. At some point when you work really hard, something good is going to happen.”
The homer continued a strong day for Johnson, who ended the day 2-for-3 with three of the team’s four RBIs.
“Landon has been doing his best to do what he can for the team and he holds a lot on his shoulders,” Ghan-Gibson said. “Today was a day that Landon believed in himself like we all believe in him and that’s what it’s all about.”
After a scoreless fourth inning, Perez found himself in some trouble in the top of the fifth inning with runners on the corners with no outs.
However, the senior buckled down and retired the next three batters in order to get out of the jam unharmed and hold onto that 4-0 advantage.
“He doesn’t flinch, he’s not a power pitcher so he’s used to getting hit,” Ghan-Gibson said of his fifth-inning performance. “When guys are on base, he’s going. At this point in the season, our defense is playing the best we’ve had.
“It’s a full team effort and when he’s on the mound, that’s who we are.”
Perez then got through a scoreless sixth and the Royals’ offense couldn’t add to their lead, leaving the score at 4-0 heading into the top of the seventh.
The San Marcos starter ran into some trouble there, walking the first two batters of the inning.
Ghan-Gibson then opted to insert Crang to get the final three outs of the game, and he did just that.
Although an RBI single was mixed in between the outs, Crang got the job done and finished off the victory in the regular season finale.
Perez celebrated his Senior Day with a final line of six innings pitched and one earned run while pitching to contact and getting efficient outs throughout the game.
“He’s fulfilled that role the whole year and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Ghan-Gibson said of Perez. “I pointed to my heart to him at the end and that’s him in a nutshell. It’s all heart, he’s been doubted for his whole career here and he just got it done every time he’s been up there.
“I couldn’t be more proud of a kid that doesn’t listen to the noise and does his thing, controls what he can control.”
San Marcos, who is slotted into Div. 2, will learn its first-round playoff matchup on Monday.