El Toro Gets a Bounce and a Victory

El Toro pitcher Rob Johnson’s complete-game, 6-5, victory over Arroyo Grande wasn’t pretty, and his ugliest pitch might have saved the game for him.

Johnson survived seven hits, four walks and a leadoff home run by Andy Collet to win a Southern Section 4-A quarterfinal game Friday.

El Toro (18-11) advances to play Capistrano Valley in the semifinals Tuesday at a site to be determined.

Nursing a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and no outs, Johnson bounced a 1-1 curveball two feet in front of the plate.

But Arroyo Grande (15-9) had the squeeze play on, and with pinch-runner Darren Karner speeding down the third-base line, Chad Myers missed the bouncing ball with his bunt attempt.

Catcher Chad Hoelker blocked the ball and picked it up to tag Karner for the first out of the inning.

“I don’t remember (Johnson) throwing a pitch that badly in the whole game before that,” Arroyo Grande Coach Terry Albert said. “Myers is the one guy on the team who would have bunted the ball if it was at all possible; I’m just a lousy guesser at when (Johnson) was going to bounce one.”

After the failed squeeze play, a groundout brought home Arroyo Grande’s fourth run, and Pete Rodriguez’s infield single scored the tying run with two outs.

“It looked like Johnson was tiring,” Albert said.

“Rob took us to the (Southern Section 4-A final at the) Big A in ’88 as a freshman,” El Toro Coach Dan DeLeon said. “He’s such a fierce competitor; unless he was physically unable to finish the game, he was going to stay in there.”

Johnson stayed, and he got pinch-hitter Dana Martin to pop out with the go-ahead run on second, ending the inning with the score tied at 5.

El Toro’s Jason Bailey, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, singled home Jason Santoro, who had been hit by a pitch and moved to second on a balk, with the eventual winning run in the sixth.

El Toro had 10 hits, eight of them singles. Second baseman Wade Jackson had two doubles and a run scored, and shortstop Sal Schachter had two hits and a run scored.

Hoelker also had two hits and a run scored, and picked off a runner at second in the fifth inning after Johnson had started the inning with two walks.