Walk-off balk lands Santa Ynez baseball in CIF quarterfinals

Posted: May 22, 2012 8:13 PM by Andrew Masuda
Updated: May 23, 2012 10:35 AM

Santa Ynez advances in CIF quarters on walk-off balk

A three-run bottom of the eighth inning capped by a walk-off balk delivered a thrilling 4-3 come from behind win over defending CIF champion Oak Hills for the Santa Ynez high baseball team on Tuesday. The Pirates, who have won both of their postseason games in extra innings, advanced into Friday's C.I.F. Division 5 quarterfinals.

The Pirates trailed 1-0 into the bottom of the fifth when Ryan Welker singled in Colby Barrick with the tying run. It stayed tied into the eighth inning when the visiting Bulldogs took a 3-1 lead when they scored two runs on an errant throw to third base by pitcher Zach De Marcus on a sacrifice bunt.

In the bottom of the eighth, the first three Pirates reached base for Lee Jensen. He ripped a double to the right-centerfield gap to score Felipe Gonzales and DeMarcus and tie the game 3-3. With Welker at third base and Jensen at second, Oak Hills intentionally walked Thomas Rowan to load the bases. Then with Jacob Pritchard at the plate, the Oak Hills pitcher came set above the waist and rocked his body back when the umpires called him for a balk. The subtle movement on the mound allowed Welker to score the game-winning run.

"It's a big emotional game right now. I'm still trying to get over it. Wow. I'm just trying to take it all in right now. I never once thought he'd balk. But we've been practicing fake steals like that and it turned out that he flinched a little bit and that ended up winning us the game," said Welker, who scored the game-winning run.

"I've never won a big game like that before. But it's like showing them and showing everyone, including ourselves, that we can do it. We're in the third round now and we can do anything now," added senior Lee Jensen, who clubbed the game-tying double in the eighth.

The Pirates collected ten hits led by Welker, who had 3 hits and an RBI. Gonzales added 2 hits.

Hunter Totemeier threw 6 solid innings for the Pirates. The junior allowed 5 hits and 1 run. De Marcus earned the win in relief, despite allowing 2 runs and 1 hit in 2 innings of work.

The Pirates improved to 22-6 on the season. They host top seeded Paraclete in Friday's quarterfinals.