Prep Baseball: Adelanto capitalizes on mistakes to reach the 2nd round of CIF-SS playoffs

Every mistake made on a baseball field can tidal wave into a disaster during the playoffs.

With the threat of a win-or-go-home game on the line, the nerves are high and can lead to innings getting away from one team or the other.

Adelanto knows this all too well, having been eliminated in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs the past three years. That wasn’t the case Friday afternoon as the Saints beat Marshall 9-3 at home.

With eight seniors on the roster this year, this had to be the year they at least got past the first round. In the bottom of the third inning with a 2-1 lead, Adelanto took full advantage of the mistakes made by Marshall.

Marshall starting pitcher Nate Callaway started the inning by loading the bases, including two hit batters. It was enough to get pulled from the game and Wes Pendleton came in.

The first pitch by Pendleton to Aaron Rodriguez was a curveball that ran inside and plunked Rodriguez for the third hit batter of the inning. Daniel Fernandez followed with a two-run single and Jamall Dixon later drove in Rodriguez with a single.

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The one-run lead grew to five-runs because the Saints were able to take advantage of Marshall’s mistakes.

“A lot of playoff experience with these guys and it showed today,” Adelanto head coach Brandon Mikkelson said. “I thought we were the calmer, more poised team today.”

Rodriguez gets the rally started and production from the bottom of the order

Rodriguez’s RBI hit-by-pitch in the third inning was not his only time getting plunked in the game — he started the second inning off by getting hit as well.

With the team down by a run, Rodriguez got hit on the inning's first pitch. He immediately looked toward the dugout, waved his arms, and yelled to get his team fired up.

“We got to get the rally started and it worked,” Rodriguez said.

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A few batters later and with two outs, eight-hole hitter Angel Candelaria lined a ball into left-center field that rolled to the wall. Rodriguez scored and Candelaria slid into third for a triple.

Jamall Dixon, the nine-hole hitter, followed that up with a single into right field to score Candelaria.

Dixon has been struggling lately at the plate so Mikkelson says he has worked on making adjustments to his swing. Dixon had two hits and two RBIs at the bottom of the order in Friday’s game.

“I just knew that we had it and if we kept on hitting the ball the way that we were hitting, we were gonna put up some more runs and just keep going,” Dixon said.

Dixon’s run-scoring single gave Adelanto the 2-1 lead in the second inning and the Saints kept adding to the lead in the next two innings with five in the third and three in the fourth for a 9-2 lead.

Espinoza battles without his best stuff

Senior Chris Espinoza got the start for Adelanto and fought through 6 1/3 innings against Marshall.

Espinoza struck out nine batters and gave up one walk. But Espinoza gave up 11 hits to Marshall, keeping the bases busy throughout the game.

Only three runs were scored off Espinoza as he was able to work out of situations with runners on base throughout the game. After giving up a single with one out in the seventh, Mikkelson pulled Espinoza as was over 100 pitches.

Zachary Viramontes came in and got the final two outs to seal the win for Adelanto.

What’s next

Adelanto will be on the road Tuesday afternoon against Trinity Classical Academy, which started the playoffs with a bye.

Trinity Classical Academy is undefeated this season with a 19-0 record and a plus 141 run differential. The Knights are the No. 8 ranked team in Division 5, while Adelanto is right behind at No. 9.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Baseball: Adelanto capitalizes on mistakes to reach the 2nd round of CIF-SS playoffs