When 9 innings is not enough

WALNUT – The San Joaquin Delta College Mustangs kept their 2024 season alive by the skin of their teeth with a hard-fought, 11-10, 13-inning win over Santa Ana College in the consolation semifinal of the 2024 3C2A Baseball State Championship on Sunday at Mt. San Antonio College.

Braeden Schnabel's 13th-inning base hit drove in pinch-runner River Jackson with the winning run and SJD reliever Michael Banderas withstood a bases-loaded threat in the bottom of the inning to end the game and the Dons' season at 35-15-1.

The Delta offense was spread around from the top to bottom as seven different players had multi-hit games, including Mateo Garcia (3-for-6, 1 run, 2 RBI), Gabe Natividad (3-for-7, 1 run, 2 RBI) and Grant MacArthur (3-for-6, 1 run). For the Dons, Michael Rocha went 5-for-5 with a run scored and seven RBI, while Jake Long added five hits of his own with three runs scored.

The downfall for the Dons came in the "left on base" category with Santa Ana stranding 36 baserunners over their two games.
Dominic Rodriguez got the Mustangs on the scoreboard early when he launched a 3-2 pitch deep over the left-center field fence, putting Delta up, 1-0 in the top of the first.
Santa Ana quickly responded in the bottom of the first. A walk, a HBP and passed ball were cashed in with a two-run single up the middle off the bat of Michael Rocha, putting the Dons up, 2-1. A wild pitch moved Rocha to second and he came around to score on an infielder grounder an throwing error off the bat of Kian Sanchez. With Sanchez on second following the error, he came in on an RBI-single from Brady Schrank, putting SAC up 4-1. After withstanding a bases-loaded situation with the Dons batting and keeping SAC off of the scoreboard in the bottom of the second, the Mustangs quickly changed the vibe of the game in the top of the third with back-to-back singles by Joe Barnhardt and Park Romney. A sacrifice fly by Mateo Garcia plated Barnhardt to trim the deficit down to 4-2.  A walk and infield single loaded the bases with two outs in the third and Drew Giannini drove in a pair with a sharp single to right to tie the game at 4. Delta delivered the knockout blow to SAC starter Alan Huerta in the top of the fourth, going single-double, single-double to grab a 6-4 lead. An RBI sacrifice fly by Rodriguez was followed quickly by an RBI-double by Blaine French to push the Delta advantage to 8-4, capping off the four-run, six-hit offensive barrage delivered by the Mustangs.

Santa Ana continued the scoreboard abuse by tacking on more runs in the back-and-forth battle. A bases-loaded, ground-rule double my Rocha made it 8-6 and a run-scoring grounder scored SAC's seventh run, but the Dons were held quiet the rest of the inning, giving the Mustangs an 8-7 advantage after four innings. With two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth, Delta used a single and a pair of walks to set up a two-run double by Gabe Natividad to extend Delta's lead to 10-7. Santa Ana needed a ninth-inning rally, trailing 10-8 and it was Rocha, who drove in both runs in the ninth to force extra innings. C.J. Brown took the hard-luck loss for the Dons, in spite of being the most successful pitcher of Game 3, throwing 7 1/3 innings of relief and holding the Mustangs to just one run on six hits with a pair of strikeouts.