Valley Adds to Streak, Edges Mesa

The Valley College Monarchs have been masters of the unexpected of late, and they received unlikely late-inning heroics to defeat Mesa, 4-3, Thursday in the opening round of the Southern California regional baseball playoffs.

Outfielder Mike Caputi, who expected to start but was benched, looped a pinch-hit single in the eighth that scored the tying and winning runs.

And Jose Banuelos, a relief pitcher nicknamed “Banjo,” recorded a save after appearing tightly strung when he made three errors in the seventh and eighth innings.

The odd mix made sense to the Monarchs, who qualified for the tournament only by scoring 12 runs in the top of the ninth inning against College of the Desert last Saturday to record their eighth consecutive victory. They will shoot for their 10th in a row Saturday at Cerritos College against Oxnard, a 3-2 first-round winner over Orange Coast.

“Toward the middle of the season, this wasn’t something I expected,” said Chris Johnson, Valley’s first-year coach, “but when a team gets this kind of feeling, there’s no telling what can happen.”

Mesa took a 3-1 lead in the seventh when Todd Hentges ripped a two-run home run off starter Joey Kane and a Banuelos throwing error allowed another run.

But Valley again got that feeling.

Eric Vargas singled to open the eighth and moved to second base on John Quick’s single. After a strikeout and a fly out, Ray Sabado scored Vargas with another single.

Mesa chose to walk Pat Thompson and load the bases. Johnson, whose moves had backfired much of the game, sent Caputi to bat for cleanup hitter Marty Williams.

Caputi seemed off balance as the count reached 2-2, but he poked Rigo Beltran’s curve to center, scoring Quick and Sabado.

“I didn’t want to swing at no junk--I knew he’d try to get me fishing,” Caputi said. “This was a very hard day for me. I had started the last seven of eight games. The coach didn’t tell me why I was benched. I was angry. I was trying to stay in the game--I just kept swinging a bat.”

As for Banuelos, he was unstoppable, at least when he pitched the ball.

One out after entering the game in the seventh, he threw errantly to first on a pickoff try, putting Geoff Martinez on third. Then he flubbed Charles Evans’ slow roller with two out, allowing Martinez to score Mesa’s third run. In the eighth, Banuelos again threw errantly, this time after fielding Charlton Lynch’s comebacker.

But Banuelos pitched out of trouble in the eighth and had a 1-2-3 ninth.

Though Valley celebrated as if it had won the state title--players mob-tackled one another afterward--Caputi took the win in stride.

“We knew we had a good team,” he said. “Put it this way: We dig down.”

Mesa, which was second in the Palomar League, finished 28-9.