TOKAY BASEBALL SHOCKS TRACY
Tokay High’s baseball team suddenly became relevant in the Tri-City Athletic League race this week.
Playing its second game against Tracy at Zupo Field in their best-of-three series on Thursday night, the Tigers saw the benefits of manufacturing offense. Topped with a strong pitching performance by Nick Frisk, Tokay upset Tracy 2-1, for its first league win of the season and evened the series at 1-1. On Tuesday, Tokay (1-4 in the TCAL, 5-12) held a 4-2 lead over Tracy (3-2 in the TCAL, 10-5) on the Bulldogs’ diamond. But Tracy rallied to post a 6-4 win over the Tigers.
The game was tied at 1-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. That’s when Tokay’s Jaime Quesada led off with a single, and moved to second base on a Joey Heryford bunt that went for a single to put runners on first and second.
“Our small ball stuff we can do,” said Tokay coach Pat Macfarlane.
After a ground out pushed Quesada (3-for-
3) to third base but left Heryford at first, Tokay pinch-hitter Harrison Kurkjian smacked a high fly ball to Tracy right fielder Paxton Andrade for a sacrifice fly. The throw to the Tracy catcher was late, as Quesada was two steps ahead and tagged home plate for the go-ahead and eventual winning run.
Frisk and the Tigers wasted little time on defense in the top of the seventh inning. Two fly outs and a grounder ended the Bulldogs’ chances of a comefrom-behind win.
Tokay tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Diego Ramirez reached first base on a Tracy fielding error. He moved to second base on Quesada’s second hit of the game, a single that went in between the Bulldogs’ third baseman and shortstop. After moving to third base on Heryford’s sacrifice fly, Ramirez went home when Logan Drummond, only a freshman, singled to left field.
Tracy scored its only run in the top of the second inning. Dylan Angelo singled to left field, and then rounded the bases to home plate on Brentley Bergmann’s single to right field.
Last week, Tokay scored a combined two runs in a bestof-three series against St. Mary’s. That’s when Macfarlane felt it was time to shake up the offense. Heryford, who had been batting in the No. 2 spot in the line-up for most of the season, was moved down to No. 6 spot. Ryan Lew was bumped to the No. 2 spot from the No. 3 spot, which was occupied by Ramirez in Thursday’s game.
“This is our second game,” said Macfarlane of the line-up changes. “We had to change it up. That’s what we’re going to have to do. We’re not home run hitters. To play small ball, you can’t be behind 8-0 in the second
inning.”
On top of that, the Tigers are using bunts and hit-andrun to produce offense. Tokay attempted a half-dozen bunts and almost the same amount of hit-and-runs. At two points in the game, Tracy’s infield communication problems prevented them from fielding Tokay’s bunts.
“Our bunts had their guys running into each other, and that helped,” Macfarlane said. “We got the runs in.”
Behind Quesada in hitting for the Tigers was Ramirez, Heryford and Drummond, who had a hit each for a total of six for the team.
Frisk gave up only four hits,
none of them in the last four innings of the game, and struck out four Tracy batters.
“It took him a couple of innings,” said Macfarlane of Frisk. “He wasn’t sharp with his curve ball; he was trying to take too much off it. Once he got in a groove, he was excellent.”
Frisk was assisted by the Tigers’ play on defense, including deep fly balls tracked down by center fielder Cory Glasgow, who recorded four outs in the game, and left fielder Miles Kirkendall, who caught a deep fly ball in the top of the seventh inning and crashed into the wall while making the catch. Ramirez, a
senior, played third base in Thursday’s game after playing first base for most of the season.
Tokay and Tracy wrap up their series on the Bulldogs’ field today at 4 p.m.