Providence High baseball eliminated by Santa Paula in CIF opener
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BURBANK — For a team that doesn’t have any seniors, the Providence High baseball team made some strides this season.
The Pioneers climbed a notch in the Liberty League en route to participating in the CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs for a second straight campaign after the program didn’t qualify for the postseason the previous 13 seasons.
Though Providence saw its season wrap up Friday with a 3-2 defeat against visiting Santa Paula at Foy Park, several of the Pioneers were already looking ahead to next season.
PHOTOS: Providence falls to Santa Paula, 3-2
“I think for what we have, we are going in the right direction,” said Providence Coach Steve Knez, whose team took second in the Liberty League behind Buckley. “We had no seniors and moved up a spot in our league.
“We won a playoff game last year. We would have liked to have done it again this year, but our guys left it on the field today. That’s all I can ask.”
Providence (11-9) held a 2-0 lead entering the fifth inning before Santa Paula (13-12) scored three runs against Providence starting pitcher Sean Holt. The Pioneers had a runner on first with two outs in the seventh before Holt flied out to deep left field to end the contest.
Holt, a reigning All-Area first-team pick who tossed 100 pitches in six innings Friday, struck out six, allowed four hits and walked three.
Holt, a right-hander, said he tried to keep Santa Paula off balance before the Cardinals made some adjustments the second time through the lineup.
“I was trying to locate inside and outside,” Holt said. “I threw my curveball for strikes and got ahead a lot early on.
“It’s about adjustments and they had that one inning with the three runs. It’s a tough game to lose, but we’ll get back at it and work even harder going into next season.”
Providence scored both of its runs in the third. Jonathan Max had a single to score Ryan Chow to make it 1-0. The Pioneers extended their lead with a sacrifice fly to right by Holt that scored Thomas Keller, a reigning All-Area pick.
Santa Paula, which finished third in the Frontier League and will meet second-seeded Crean Lutheran or Upland Christian in a second-round game Tuesday, rallied for three runs in the fifth.
Anthony Morales had a two-run double to score Chris Ayala and Ricky Rodriguez to knot it at 2. A groundout by Bryce Garcia scored Jesus Nava with the game-winning run.
“Sean did a great job and he gave us a chance to win the game,” Knez said. “Our offense just came up a little short.
“It was a well-played game on both sides. They just played a little better than we did. I don’t know if we could have played any better.”
Santa Paula reliever Daniel Garcia picked up the win.
Providence finished with six hits, including two apiece from Keller, Stephen Knezevich and Max. The Pioneers had the lead-off batter reach base five times, but could only convert on one of the opportunities.
“We have a lot to build on from what we were able to get done,” said Keller, a catcher. “I thought we might make a deeper run, but we’ll get better.”
The Cardinals had five hits, including two from Morales.