Scholtens, Faulkner lift Mustangs into championship game
SACRAMENTO — The 26th win of the 2011 season was probably the biggest win in Rodriguez High baseball program history.
So far, anyway.
The Mustangs are convinced the best is yet to come.
As it is, Rodriguez finally got the best of four-time defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champion Yuba City Tuesday, blasting the Honkers 10-3 to advance to the section championship game on Monday at Sacramento City College.
Rodriguez now takes on co-Solano County Athletic Conference champion Benicia, which dispatched Rio Americano in three games in the semifinals, for all the marbles.
“This is something we’ve been working on for a decade now,” said Mustangs coach Jason Chatham, who’s been there since the school opened in 2001. “But we’re not satisfied with what we achieved here today. We still have one more to go.”
Jesse Scholtens threw a complete game with 12 strikeouts and Trever Faulkner went 3 for 3 at the plate with a home run and a sacrifice fly to lead the Mustangs into uncharted waters.
For the second time in the best-of-three series, the Mustangs (26-4-1) had to come from behind, but this time they did so with authority, plating six runs in the fourth inning to suck the wind out of the Honkers’ sails.
With Rodriguez trailing 3-0, Faulkner stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and crushed the first pitch he saw from Yuba starter Zach Oakley over the left field fence.
“It was kind of a friend-to-friend thing,” Faulkner said. “I’ve known him for three or four years. I just sat back on his curveball.”
That blast opened the floodgates for the Mustangs, who batted around in the inning, getting run-scoring hits from Brandon Ortega and Jake Caballero, as well as a bases-loaded walk by Jacob Booker and Faulkner’s sac fly to make it 6-3.
Rodriguez added two in the fifth on Dareion Evans’ two-run double and another two in the sixth on run-scoring hits from Nick Perez and Devon Golden.
Scholtens said he didn’t have his best stuff, but clearly what he had was more than enough as he allowed just five hits to go with his dozen punchouts.
“I always felt we had the team to do it,” Scholtens said. “Yuba’s kind of been our Kryptonite. It’s a great feeling.”
As for Monday’s game, Chatham likes his team’s chances.
“This is a special team . . . we’re confident in what we’re doing,” he said.
By Mike Corpos at 427.6979 or mcorpos@dailyrepublic.net.
Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=49743
Posted by Mike Corpos
on May 24 2011.
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