For the second straight playoff game, Blake Starn took the mound for the Turlock Christian baseball team on Monday. And unlike last Thursday’s 4-3 quarterfinal win against Big Valley Christian in which he walked four and had two wild pitches in his lone inning of work, the junior was dealing.
Starn held the Rio Vista offense to just one run over 5 2/3, four-hit innings as the top-seeded Eagles claimed the opening game of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII semifinal series over the No. 5 Rams by a 6-2 score. The right-hander struck out eight batters in the process.
TC head coach Bill York didn’t want his ace to dwell on the disappointing start, and felt it would serve good for Starn’s confidence to be handed the responsibility of the series-opening start and a chance at redemption.
“Later that same night, I texted the coaches, and I said, ‘You know what, we gotta get Starn back on the horse,” York said. “I mean, he just didn't have it that day, but he's been our guy. So all of the coaches agreed. We told him that next day at practice that he’d start this game, and he performed. He showed up.”
While he surrendered his fair share of walks (6) throughout his outing, Starn induced weak contact each time through the order. It also helped that the Rams ran themselves into three outs on the basepaths, whether it were a runner taking off on a fly ball or finding themselves in a pair of pickles. Nevertheless, Rio Vista was held hitless until the fifth inning, eventually getting a run across on an RBI single in the sixth inning, urging York to bring Kelley in for relief.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure on me, I put some on myself, getting this start,” Starn said. “But it means a lot that (York) put his trust in me and gave me another shot.
“My mindset was to just throw strikes and just throw it through the catcher. That’s what I was thinking the whole time, because last game, I felt like I was just trying to hit the perfect spot every time. It was good today.”
At the time of Starn’s exit, the Eagles were already up 4-0.
The Eagles started their scoring early when Michael Miller, who led off the game with a walk, scored on a Cam Kelley fielder’s choice. Starn then helped his own cause by knocking in Winston York, who also reached base on balls, with a single to make it a 2-0 game after an inning of play.
Miller extended TC’s lead to 3-0 when he hit a sharp line drive past the shortstop to drive in Max Salas in the second inning. The junior captain drove in another insurance run with a sacrifice-fly in the fourth inning.
Two more run scored for the Eagles in the sixth inning on a pair of errors and a wild pitch.
In his 1 2/3 inning of relief, Kelley struck out three batters, and allowed a two-out, RBI single in the top of the seventh before finally forcing a popout to shut the door on Game 1.
The series will transition to Rio Vista for Game 2 today at 4 p.m. There, the Eagles will try to punch their ticket to the section title game, while the Rams will look to extend the series to a decisive third game on Thursday back at Pedretti Park.
“A series lead, it's key, especially with a young team like this,” York said. “I just told them in the postgame huddle, ‘You guys understand you're one game away from a section championship game?’ And I think it hit them right then and there. So they’re just now realizing how good of a position they put themselves in, and they're excited.
“But I said the work isn't done. What I'm trying to press upon them is that this should now motivate them. The excitement of being able to be in this spot and a chance to get to that championship game is huge. I hope it translates onto the field after we drive up there on Wednesday.”
