Exceptional relief pitching from the Matadors led to a 4-2 win over Gunn


Winning streaks are hard to come by, but for the Matadors it seems easy, scoring a total of 50 runs and only allowing 13 runs in their current six game winning streak.

The varsity boys baseball team (7-3, 6-0) with the win 4-2 over Gunn (4-5-1, 2-2) on March 31 keeps them undefeated in league play this season.

Superb pitching by senior Ryan Winston and juniors Joey Shepard and Austin Burrow held Gunn to only two runs on two hits, making the Matadors offense just enough to get the win.Winston started out strong forcing the Titans to only one hit and no runs in his first three innings of pitching. The Matadors offense took no time in putting runs on the board after taking advantage of Titans defense to get people on base. Two singles then made the score 2-0 by the end of the first inning.

“It is always nice getting those first runs,” coach Brian Sullivan said. “That way if there is a mistake somewhere down the road, you still have that opportunity that it wont come back to bite you.”

The defense on both sides improved as in the second inning, senior Connor Criddle lined a ball into deep left field but got out as the tried to advance to second from a strong throw from the Titan’s left fielder.

Gunn’s offense began to strike back in the fourth inning. A single by junior Ryan Teranishi and then a double to left by senior Jack Hannan gave the Titans their first run. Another run was scored soon after off an error from senior Nathan Burroughs to make the score 2-2.

After two walks, Sullivan had a pitching change to get them out of the inning.

“At first, I was like ‘jeez’ based loaded, but you know I came in and got the strikeout, so I was happy about that,” junior Joey Shepard said.

Shepard ended the inning with a strike out and the Matadors quickly answered in the bottom of the fourth after a single from junior Matt Kelley and a double by Winston to put runners on second and third. With two outs, senior Zach James scored one more run with a single to make it 3-2. Burroughs would later add on that lead in the bottom of the fifth after scoring on a wild pitch.

The lead would stay as Shepard continued to shut down Titan hitters and the strong relief pitching continued when Burrow came in the seventh inning to get a double play after one pitch and then strike out the last batter to end the game.

“All three of them were throwing strikes,” Sullivan said. “That is going to be our key, the more times that we can throw strikes and we got a strong infield behind him. As long as they do their job everything else will take care of itself.

The win over Gunn moves them up to 8-3 overall and 6-0 in league play. Their next home game will be on Apr. 7 against Santa Clara High School (5-6. 3-1).

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