Errors undo Bulldogs against Mar Vista
CALEXICO — Unable to hold on to an early lead, the Calexico High Bulldog baseball team fell to the Mar Vista High Mariners 11-3 in a San Diego CIF Division IV play-in game at Belcher Field here Tuesday afternoon.
“Our Achilles heel was ground balls, as it has been all season long,” said Calexico coach Ricky Guzman. “This season we’re built around a lot of inexperienced players, and it shows up in games at this level.”
The game pitted 8th-seeded Calexico (10-14-1), which finished fifth in the seven-team Imperial Valley League, against 9th-seeded Mar Vista (11-16) which finished fifth in the six-team Metro South Bay League.
Calexico’s two seniors carried the team offensively with shortstop Andre Banuelos banging out three hits in four at-bats and driving in all three Calexico runs while outfielder Jerry Fergoso also had three hits and scored all three runs.
“I’m sad that we lost, but I’d rather go out fighting in a CIF game,” Banuelos said. “I always feel like I could have done better, but I feel I gave it my best effort today, and that’s how I wanted it.”
Calexico took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Fregoso led off with infield single. Jesus Aguilar sacrificed him to second, and Banuelos singled to put runners on first and third. Guzman then called for a delayed steal by Banuelos with Fregoso scoring during the ensuing run down.
Calexico’s starting pitcher Jorge Villanueva pitched three and twothirds innings of shut-out ball, striking out three, before leaving with leg cramps.
Leading 1-0 in the top of the fifth, the Bulldog defense collapsed as nine Mariners batters only garnered one hit but Calexico committed four errors leading to four Mar Vista runs.
Junior Derrick Lopez, Calexico’s first baseman, felt the Bulldogs let the game slip away in that inning.
“As a team we could have played better, we didn’t show our true potential as a team,” Lopez said. “We just made too many errors, and then we weren’t able to regroup and get ourselves back in it.”
In the bottom of the fifth, a two-out single by Fregoso followed by Aguilar being hit-by-pitch bringing up Banuelos who singled to score Fregoso.
Calexico’s final run came in the bottom of the seventh trailing 11-2 as Fregoso again singled, eventually scoring on Banuelos’ final hit of his career.
Offensively, Calexico outhit Mar Vista 10 to seven, but defensively Bulldog errors opened ultimately opened the gates for the visitors.
“This has been a learning experience for me and the others who will be back next year,” Lopez said. “I know we all want to be back in CIF next year, and hopefully things will go better for us.”
Added Guzman, “At the end of the day, with only two seniors, we gained a lot of experience, and everyone gave their best effort.”
Today, Mar Vista travels to play Division IV’s top-seeded San Diego Southwest High Raiders in the opening round of the CIF-SDS’ double-elimination baseball championship tournament.