BIG BLUE CREW
Bakersfield High ends 52-year drought, wins Division III title
As the Bakersfield High baseball team celebrated Saturday night with a dogpile in front of the mound at Visalia’s Valley Strong Ballpark, it was impossible to ignore the significance.
Fifty-two years in the making, the Drillers had just ended a generational drought and finally won a Central Section championship on the diamond for the first time since 1970.
BHS freshman right-hander Wyatt Caid tossed a complete-game three-hitter and the Drillers took advantage of some Hanford miscues to score the game’s only run and post a 1-0 victory in the Division III title game.
“It was just so good, not only for our baseball team, but just all the Driller nation,” said sixth-year Bakersfield coach Mario Garza. “It’s been such a long drought. And divisions … it doesn’t matter. We’re just so happy for that opportunity and so happy to represent the school. The boys were so excited just to get this far and just to be there and have that opportunity to represent our school.”
The Drillers (11-18-3), who won just three games in the Southwest Yosemite League this year, caught fire at the right time, closing the regular season with a victory over Liberty (Division I semifinalist) and then winning four straight on the road to win the championship as a No. 13 seed.
“It’s all about the guys believing in themselves, that pretty much sums it up,” said Garza of the Drillers, who hadn’t reached a section baseball final since 1998, the same year the 42-year-old coach graduated from Wasco High. “They just started believing that they were good and that they could compete and they’ve been showing that all playoffs. It actually started with that last SWYL game against Liberty. They just started competing for seven innings … and that was pretty cool.”
Bakersfield’s season will continue Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Southern California Regionals at Burroughs-Burbank.
“I’ve always been a believer that the SWYL is one of the toughest leagues, if not the toughest in the Valley, preparing us for what we’re going to face in the playoffs,” said Garza of the league that sent five teams to the section semifinals, and produced two titles (Stockdale won D-I). “Whether it’s this year, last year, any year, and that really held true this year.”
Although there wasn’t a lot of offense, the Drillers had plenty of star performances, highlighted by Caid’s dominant performance on the mound, with support from a solid defense that made every play behind him.
Caid only allowed one hit out of the infield, a two-out double by Gavin Guzman, but it was wasted when Driller left fielder Bradyn Ornelaz threw out Noah Gonzales
at third base, with Elijah Gonzales making the tag to end the fifth inning.
Caid needed just 76 pitches — 51 strikes — striking out three and walking one. He also hit two batters, both in the sixth, but managed to work out of trouble with the help of some solid plays in the field.
Clinging to the one-run lead, Caid hit the lead-off batter in the sixth, opposing pitcher Gabe Magallen.
The Bullpups (19-13) tried to bunt him over, but Caid fielded the attempt and fired to second to force Magallen for the first out of the inning. BHS center fielder Andrew Diaz made the second out with a running over-the-shoulder catch, and after Caid hit another batter, he enticed Zayvien Silvestre to fly out to end the threat.
“He’s been pretty solid,” said Garza of Caid, who improved to 4-5.
“He doesn’t let the moments get too big for him. A lot of the time it was whether we were going to play defense behind him and put up some runs. He’s been pretty much the same guy all year. He’s throwing really, really well for us, we just haven’t been able to back him up as well as we have during this stretch.”
Bakersfield managed just four hits, two coming off the bat of senior shortstop Johnnie Lee, but he reached in another way in the fourth and later scored the only run of the game.
After Wyatt Ashe flied out to open the inning, Lee struck out, but he reached on a dropped third strike when he was hit by the bal running to first. He moved to second on a passed ball and to third when Nolan Arnold reached another dropped third strike.
Caid followed with a successful squeeze bunt, with Lee sliding in head first to beat the throw.
“It was very important for us to keep teams below four runs to give ourselves a chance, because we knew what we averaged every game,” Garza said. “And if we were going to play defense behind him, we were going to be OK.”
Bakersfield had the lead-off hitter reach base in three of the first five innings, but shot itself in the foot with some aggressive play on the bases. Lee was picked off after leading off the second with an infield hit, Ornelaz was caught stealing after a lead-off single in the third and Arnold ended the fourth heading to third base trying a delayed steal.
It all became nothing more than a footnote for the Drillers, who defeated No. 4 Taft 4-3 in the playoff opener, then won at No. 5 Porterville-Monache 11-5 and No. 1 Kingsburg 10-4 to set up Saturday’s championship game.
“We’re here, the No. 13 seed, we came in limping into the playoffs and what a story,” Garza said. “We have no scholarship guys or guys that are committed to any major universities. We just have a bunch of guys that are working hard. We’re not expected to be where we’re at. So that’s pretty much been my message to our boys. ‘Hey, there’s no pressure on us. We’re not even supposed to be here. Let’s just go out there and have fun and play baseball.”