Dons Win, Move Into Title Game

Rancho Santiago moved into a lofty and very familiar position Sunday with a 1-0 victory over rival Cypress in the semifinal round of the state baseball tournament at Fresno College.

With the victory, which was keyed by the standout pitching of sophomore right-hander Brandon Hendrikx, the Dons (38-12) advance to the title game for a record fourth consecutive year.

“That really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “But now, you get stingy and want to win the whole thing.”

Rancho Santiago, the defending champion, meets the Cypress-Fresno winner at 11 a.m. today for the title. The Dons also won it all in 1993.

Hendrikx (10-0) dominated with his slider and fastball, getting 10 strikeouts and giving up five hits, all singles. It was his second consecutive post-season victory.

Hendrikx tired in the ninth, issuing two-outs walks to Randy Case and Junior Rodriguez.

Hendrikx, whose pitches were clocked as high as 91 mph, was replaced by Matt Ward. Ward got two strikes on Kenny Granger, then got him to hit into a force play to end the game.

It was the second save of the season for Ward, who got the victory in relief Saturday when Rancho Santiago beat Lassen, 11-6, in the first round. It also was the 24th game Ward has pitched in, which is a Rancho Santiago single-season record.

The victory was the fourth in five meetings for Rancho Santiago over Cypress this season. Hendrikx started against the Chargers twice and ended up with two no-decisions.

“It feels really good to win,” Hendrikx said. “I felt really good coming into the game. I was glad it was Cypress, I wanted to pitch against them.”

Cypress, which defeated Fresno, 2-1, Saturday, got a nearly as impressive pitching performance from sophomore left-hander Graham Mazur (3-1). He gave up eight hits and the run was unearned.

Rancho Santiago (38-12) scored in the fifth.

Tony Zuniga singled with one out and stole second. He went to third on a groundout by Derek Baker and scored when shortstop Rodriguez couldn’t handle a grounder up the middle by Ryan Fullerton. Rodriguez got to the ball but dropped it as he tried to move it from his glove to his throwing hand.

Cypress hit only six balls out of infield and got only one runner to third. That came in the fifth when Granger singled, went to second on a fielder’s choice and was sacrificed to third. But Keith Ginter struck out to end the inning.

“What an outstanding performance by Brandon Hendrikx,” Sneddon said. “To keep Cypress to no runs, that’s quite a feat.”

In another tournament game:

Cypress 4, Fresno 1--Ara Petrosian came within an out of a no-hitter as Cypress won an elimination game Sunday night.

Petrosian (9-4), who had 12 strikeouts, said he hung a slider to Keith Howard, who lined a single to right-center with two outs in the ninth.

Petrosian then gave up an RBI single to Scott Barr and walked Jeremy Freitas before getting Brandon Herzog to fly out to end the game.

“I think that was about the best game I’ve ever pitched,” he said. “What was nerve-racking was going from the first inning to 8 2/3 knowing I hadn’t allowed a hit.”

Cypress (41-13) must beat Rancho Santiago twice today to win the state title. The Chargers did exactly that in 1994.

Randy Case had two run-scoring singles and also made an impressive defensive play at third when he reached high over his head to get a bouncer and threw out the runner in the seventh.

Jeremy Booth had a sacrifice fly and Scott Daeley had an RBI single for Cypress.

Fresno, which beat Lassen, 10-5, on Sunday, ends 35-17.