HILMAR — Have no fear, Marlin Kindberg is here.
Despite pitching on short notice, the senior southpaw was his dominant self for Hilmar, tossing a six-inning complete game Tuesday to help the No. 6 Yellowjackets (18-4) defeat No. 11 Destiny Christian Academy (15-14-1) by an 11-1 score to open the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V baseball playoffs.
Kindberg, the regular No, 2 starter for the ‘Jackets, started his second straight game after ace Brad Chipponeri experienced arm soreness to start the week.
Although there was traffic on the bases for most of his outing with his six hits surrendered (mainly bloops and singles through infield gaps), Kindberg consistently induced weak contact through flyouts, popouts and groundouts to escape unscathed. The lone run scored by the Lions came on a throwing error in the sixth inning, but by that time, it was already a 7-1 game.
“I knew when Bradley was telling me how he wasn't feeling good, I knew they'd come straight to me. I knew my coaches had faith in me, so I was pretty happy when they told me to go,” Kindberg said.
Chipponeri has accumulated a 6-1 record and a 2.12 ERA with 45 punchouts in his 43 innings of work over eight appearances. But Kindberg has been similarly stellar, matching the strikeouts mark and going 7-2 with a 1.93 over 54 1/3 innings in 11 games.
“We were 100% confident in Marlin,” said head coach Frank Hilliard. “We didn't want to push anything with Brad. And as you can see, Marlin’s got that dog in him. Marlin is the dude. We put all of our eggs in a basket behind this guy, and we know he's going to do it for us.”
Chipponeri will try to give it a go for Thursday’s quarterfinal game on the road against No. 3 Wheatland (16-8-1), who eliminated Ripon, 11-3, on Tuesday.
As for Kindberg, everything seemed to be feeling good. And his teammates were there to offer run support and, defensively, run prevention.
“My four-seam fastball, my slider, my curveball, changeup, and occasionally my two-seam, they usually all work for me. But I gotta give it to my team. They have my back. Balls were hit in play and they just laid out and got outs for me,” Kindberg said.
The Hilmar offense gave their pitcher an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cohen Felber started the scoring by driving in Ian Kohen on a double. Felber then came around to touch home plate on a single off the bat of John Lopez. Xavier Silveira scored a third run in the second inning on a fielding error.
Each team went quietly until another Yellowjacket rally in the fifth inning, scoring four runs on four hits. Leading off was Jacob Sward with a double, and Tanner Westmoreland brought him home on a single. John Labno kept the line moving with an RBI single immediately after. Kohen and Felber were each hit by pitches before Junior Solis drove in the seventh run on a single.
The Lions threatened to score a second run in the sixth on a sacrifice-fly, but the baserunner was thrown out at the plate by Silveira to end the inning, prompting an emotional celebration as he returned to the dugout.
The ‘Jackets secured the mercy-rule win in the sixth thanks to a Kayleb Amaya RBI double, Lopez being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Felber scoring on a fielding error off a sharp grounder by Javi Mena to the shortstop.
“It's the playoffs. There are implications, so it's not just another baseball game. But we have to handle every game like that, with that aggressive but controlled mindset,” Hilliard said. “Not getting overhyped, not trying to do too much, but staying within ourselves.”
Hilliard also emphasized a message shared to the team by assistant coach Mike Steiner in their postgame huddle.
“Coach Steiner said it perfectly when he addressed the team: Our story is still being written. We're not ready to close the book on this season. These kids have worked way too hard. They've laid it all on the line. So let’s keep it rolling.”
Thursday’s first pitch is set for 4 p.m.
