Santa Barbara High Baseball Captures 3-2 Walk-Off Victory Over Rival San Marcos

Kaden Spencer raced home from third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 8th inning to punctuate a 3-2 walk off win for the Santa Barbara High baseball team over rival San Marcos on Friday at Eddie Matthews Field.

Santa Barbara’s heartstopping victory came in a showdown for first place in the Channel League with only a handful of games remaining in the regular season.

“Gritty, they wanted this badly. They fought and fought and they were relentless. They didn’t give up,” said Santa Barbara High Steve Schuck of his team. “That team over there {San Marcos}, they scrapped and fought and they didn’t lay down. Great baseball game. I would have loved to have been a fan.”

The Royals defeated Santa Barbara 6-2 in the first game of the series on Tuesday to close within a half game of Santa Barbara with a 6-2-1 Channel League record. Friday’s victory gave Santa Barbara much-needed breathing room in the standings as the Dons improved to 8-2 in Channel League play.

It appeared that Santa Barbara would break the game open in the bottom of the first inning as San Marcos starting pitcher Erik Perez hit the first two batters he faced.The third hitter in the inning, Jettner Welch slapped a double to left field that scored Kai Mault and put runner on second and third with no outs.

Zeke Adderley followed with a fly ball to shallow center field and Luke Keithley tagged up and attempted to score but was thrown out at home by Steven Bradley. Santa Barbara’s Anthony Firestone followed with a fly out to left field anc Perez escaped the jam.

“He kind of settled in and did his thing,” said San Marcos assistant coach Morgan Moore of Perez. Moore was filling in for head coach Wes Ghan Gibson, who was unavailable for Friday’s game for undisclosed reasons. “He’s a senior who has given us quality innings over the last couple years.”

San Marcos bounced back in the top of the third inning beginning with a one-out walk by Mason Crang. Dayne Dreste followed with a massive two-run homer that easily cleared the left field fence giving San Marcos a 2-1 lead. It was an impressive display of power by Dreste as home runs are few and far between at Eddie Matthews Field.

The Dons evened the score 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning when Kai Mault reached based on a fielder’s choice, stole second and third base and came home on a sacrifice fly by Luke Keithley. 

Perez and Adderley settled in for over the next few innings holding the respective offenses at bay.

Spencer came on in relief of Adderley in the top of the sixth inning and held San Marcos scoreless in his three innings on the mound. Perez pitched seven innings and surrendered just three hits and two runs.

Alexi Stegner came into the game in relief of Perez to start the bottom of the eighth inning and was greeted with a line drive by Spencer to right field. It was a rare at bat for Spencer who entered the game at pitcher three innings prior. 

Mault moved Spencer over into scoring position on a sac bunt and Spencer advanced to third on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch allowed Spencer to score the go ahead run and secured the victory for the Dons.

“Schuck told me to expect the wild pitch and be ready to get in there,” Spencer said. “Pitching against our crosstown rivals I knew I had to go in and compete and attack with all I got.”