#2 Mesquite pulled off quite the magic trick Monday night in its rematch for the 4A baseball championship with #4 Salpointe.

Starting pitcher Sebastian (SeaBass) Granillo and reliever Luis Morales pitched out of trouble in six of seven innings allowing Mesquite to nip Salpointe, 2-1, at Diablo Stadium. The teams met in the last 4A title game in 2019 with Salpointe taking the title with a 4-3 win. None of the players in Mesquite's starting lineup Monday were on the 2019 varsity roster save KB Bell and Zach Zwaschka. Neither played in the 2019 final. The baseball title is the second in school history with the other claimed in 2105.

Mesquite's magic went deeper than this game. The Wildcats finished 23-1 winning 18 games in row to put a wrap on the season. Salpointe (20-4) was a worthy opponent, but must lament not being able to come up with one key hit in the same six innings Mesquite walked away nearly unscathed. The Lancers left 15 runners on base - two each in the second, third and seventh innings and bases loaded in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

"These guys overacheived tremedously," Mesquite coach Jeff Holland, the only head baseball coach at the school since it opened in 1998, said  "Noone expected this but us. It's a resilient group. On paper we weren't supposed to win. After what happened last year and how things were at the beginining this year, these guys played every game like it would be their last." 

Mesquite scratched out single runs in the second and fourth innings with designated hitter Chris Robles driving in both runs - a sacrifice fly in the second and single in the fourth. Salpointe scored its run in the sixth, but only after an infield error with two outs. Morales took over and walked the first batter he faced then retired Salpointe on a pop-up to third.

Morales didn't have his best command, but navigated the seventh with a strikeout, walk, fly out to left and a hit batter. With the go-ahead runs on base, he got a pop up to second baseman Jake Gorrell to finish the anxiety-ridden contest for Holland and his staff.

Salpointe's pitching was certainly good enough to come away with the victory. Starter Dawson McHughes took the loss, pitching five innings, allowing both runs, six hits and fanning seven. Liam O'Brien relieved McHughes in the sixth and struck out the side. The Lancers Cade McGee wasn't available to pitch. He won their semifinal game against Canyon del Oro last Thursday avenging two regular-season losses to the Dorados.

Mesquite did not have its best pitcher down the stretch available to pitch, lefty Zach Zwaschka. Zwaschka (9-0) won both his postseason starts - first round vs. Buckeye and semi against Poston Butte. Granillo (7-0) had a rocky outing in the quarterfinals against Seton Catholic, but was bailed out by an eight-run rally late in the contest. Morales (6-0) was part of a three-man starting rotation in the regular season, but served as late-inning relief and closer for the postseason by Holland. Holland esentially termed his trio of pitchers as 1A, 1B and 1C for the work they did in the regular season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salpointe (20-3) vs. Mesquite (22-1)