Flintridge Prep pulls off another unbelievable comeback against Salesian

GLENDALE — Improbable comebacks are certainly nothing novel to the Flintridge Prep baseball team.

But that certainly did not quell the jubilation that followed after senior Hamilton Evans lifted a walk-off single to right field to score Daniel Chiarodit with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Rebels past Salesian, 7-6, in a CIF Southern Section Division VI quarterfinal game on Friday afternoon at the Glendale Sports Complex.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Chiarodit of the win that puts the Rebels into Tuesday’s semifinal at No. 1 Sage Hill. “It doesn’t matter what we did last year, it still feels great to come back on a team like that.”

The Rebels were down, 6-0, and hadn’t recorded a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning when relief pitcher Nick Davis came up to the plate and doubled home Theo Rosenfeld.

Then came the bottom of the sixth, when Flintridge Prep roared all the way back with five runs to tie it and create a whole new ball game that came to rest with Evans’ eighth-inning single.

“My heart was pounding,” said Evans of his eighth-inning at-bat. “We were in the same situation last year.

“Obviously we’re thinking, ‘Jeez, we’re down, 6-0,’ but I don’t think we ever lost faith.”

Last season, the Rebels rallied on multiple occasions to defeat Salesian in the semifinals, 10-9, on the way to the program’s first CIF championship.

This time, Prep (19-5), which has won 17 consecutive games overall and eight in a row in postseason play, defeated Salesian (20-12), the Santa Fe League champion, to move into the semifinals against Sage Hill, which defeated Santa Paula, 2-0, on Friday.

“We have 21 outs and they understand that,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Guillermo Gonzalez, who guided the Rebels to their third semifinal appearance in his four seasons as coach. “We play to the last out.”

Davis was two for two with three runs batted in and a run scored and was the only Rebel with multiple hits, as Salesian outhit Flintridge Prep, 10-6. But the Rebels also drew three walks and were hit by pitches on four occasions.

The Mustangs, who had won eight straight coming into Friday, were in firm control throughout the first half of the game, though.

Starting pitcher Patrick Pena was handcuffing the Rebels, holding them scoreless and hitless over the first three innings while stranding four baserunners, thanks to hitting two batters, walking another and an error.

At the plate, the Mustangs struck early, plating three runs in the top of the second thanks in large part to singles by Eddie Herrera, Justin Matzui, Joaquin Murrieta and Jairo Cuellar.

In the top of the fourth, Salesian doubled its lead with an Edmund Rosas double scoring a run and then a Geovanny Islas single bringing home two more for a 6-0 advantage.

“It was not looking good,” Chiarodit said.

Gonzalez pulled starter Richard Pan, one of the Rebels’ largest contributors in last season’s title run, and inserted Davis.

Davis pitched into further trouble with a walk and a hit batter to load the bases, but then induced a groundout deep into the hole at shortstop and watched Robbie Leslie make a phenomenal throw to end the inning and stop the bleeding.

Davis then tallied his team’s first hit to score Rosenfeld, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice. Though it was just a single run, it brought hope for the Rebels.

“He had that big hit out there and I think it flipped something on,” Evans said of Davis. “He’s a good player.”

Davis threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball before he was replaced by Andrew Tsangeos, who got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, in the top of the seventh, but by then it was a whole new ball game thanks to the five-run sixth for the Rebels.

The inning began with Leslie getting hit by a pitch and ended with Leslie striking out. In between, the Rebels broke loose.

Tsangeos followed Leslie with a single before Rosenfeld was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Up came Davis and he clutched up once again, sending a single to right field to score pinch-runner Jack Enzminger and Tsangeos to cut the score to 6-3.

Kendall Kikkawa, who had earlier made an inning-ending throw from right field to retire a runner at first base, then delivered a double to left-center field under the grasp of the diving outfielder. Rosenfeld and Davis scored to cut the Salesian lead down to 6-5.

Kikkawa took third on the throw home and it loomed large for Evans, who’s no stranger to big moments after leading the soccer team to the semifinals in the winter and providing a huge role in last year’s baseball title. Evans lifted a ball to center field for a sacrifice fly to score Kikkawa to tie the game.

The score stayed deadlocked until Evans’ second and final RBI of the day.

The end of the game didn’t come without some unfortunate events as players from both teams were separated in the midst of the Rebels’ celebration on the field. Cooler heads prevailed and there were no ejections.

For Flintridge Prep, a team that rolled to an undefeated Prep League title and had not trailed over the first two rounds of the postseason in wins over Joshua Springs and Providence, Friday’s game might well have proved that even though these Rebels have done things a bit more dominantly, they can still produce the magic that led to last season’s splendor.

“We’re just having fun when we’re playing,” Evans said. “When you have fun when you’re playing, you win.”