Legends on Right End of Slugfest, Beat Caps 11-9
Palo Alto, Calif. – After returning back to the San Francisco Bay Area over the weekend, the Legends were hoping to leave behind the traits that prevented them from winning in Santa Barbara. Most of those traits were exonerated, but one remained: the high-scoring shootout. The Menlo Park Legends were able to fight off a late rally from the Pacific Union Financial Capitalists and hang on for an 11-9 victory, snapping a three-game losing streak. The win brings the Legends to 10-5 on the summer while the Caps fall to 5-4.
The game got off to a great start for the Legends as they jumped out to a very early 7-1 advantage. Steven McLean scored the first run in the first after scoring on a Sean Watkins groundout. The Caps tied the game in the bottom of the first but the Legends added four more runs in the second. McLean singled home a run, Philip Caulfield drew a bases loaded walk, RJ Williams delivered a sacrifice fly and Sean Watkins doubled home the final run. The Legends sent nine hitters to the plate in the second and had a 5-1 lead. Two more came across in the top of the fifth when Cristopher Castillo doubled home a run, and then he scored on a Patrick McColl single. At this point, the Legends were cruising through the game and seemed to have things in hand.
Then the bottom of the fifth happened. Legends starting pitcher Elijah Saunders was very economical through the first four innings having allowed just two hits and one run. He got two outs in the fifth with two runners on base before the Caps began to do their damage. Saunders walked the bases loaded and then allowed a single to score one run. Head Coach David Klein opted to bring in Alexander Hernandez with the bases loaded and two outs. Hernandez allowed a single and then a towering homerun to left field off the bat of Javier Valdes, a grand slam no less, and in the blink of an eye the Caps had scored six runs and tied the game at 7-7.
The great thing about the Legends in this particular game is that they continued to add on runs and did not get complacent with seven on the board. McLean single-handedly scored the eighth run in the sixth when he led off with a walk, stole two bases, and scored on a wild pitch. Chandler Bengston added an RBI-groundout to score Cristopher Castillo in the top of the seventh. Then McLean did even more damage to the Caps by blasting a two-run homerun to left field in the eighth inning, his second homer in as many games. McLean finished the game 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, 2 SB. The Legends took an 11-7 lead into the ninth.
Matt Bergandi was on in relief of Hernandez in the eighth and was back out for the ninth. Bergandi retired the first five hitters he faced and the Legends were just one out away from leaving El Camino Field with a win. The Caps would not go down without a fight. Bergandi allowed a two-out single before Nicholas Quintana homered to left field to make it 11-9. It only got more interesting from there. Another single, a hit batter, and a walk. The bases were loaded, still with two outs. But as all good pitchers do, they bear down when they need to the most. Bergandi struck out the final hitter of the game on a fastball at the knees and the Legends were finally able to celebrate their tenth win of the summer.
No rest for the weary as the Legends will be back at it again on Wednesday for a game against the reigning CCL-champs, the Neptune Beach Pearl. The game location has been changed from Laney College to De Anza College, but first pitch will still be at 5:00 PM. Don’t forget, if you can’t make it to the game you can listen to it live on the Legends Radio Network!
