Legends Keep Playoff Hopes Alive by Blanking Pearl 1-0
Oakland, Calif. – The Thursday night loss to the Neptune Beach Pearl put the Menlo Park Legends in a very tough spot to make the California Collegiate League playoffs. Now having to leap-frog multiple teams to earn a playoff spot, the Legends were in must-win mode for Saturday night’s rematch against the Pearl at Laney College. The Pearl had clinched the CCL North division on Friday night with a win against the Crawdads and were out to try and make sure the Legends would be denied a chance to stay afloat in the playoff race. The Legends had other things in mind as they got great pitching from Tanner Disibio, Kevin Hahn, and Calvin Riley to shutout the Pearl and win 1-0. Menlo Park now has a record of 25-17 and 12-11 in conference games while the Pearl drop to 31-13 and 16-9 in CCL play. The two sides split their summer series 3-3.
Chandler Bengston was once again involved in the offense for the Legends and he started the rally that provided the game’s only run. After driving in six runs on Thursday night, Bengston led off the second inning with a triple to right-center field. After Sean Watkins was hit by a pitch and stole second, the Legends had two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Ryan McCarthy couldn’t drive home a run, but Miguel Pimental did as his groundout to the second baseman scored Bengston and got the Legends on the board. That was the only offense for the entire game. The Legends left a runner in scoring position in the fourth, sixth, and ninth innings as they failed to provide any extra run-support for their pitching staff. Fortunately on this night, they didn’t need any.
Tanner Disibio was on the mound for Menlo Park and he turned in what was one of his finest outings of the summer, especially given the circumstances. Disibio went six innings, allowed four hits, walked four, and struck out five. The walks total was a bit alarming, but he displayed excellent command to every hitter and was able to prevent the Pearl from getting anywhere close to threatening. The closest Neptune Beach got against Disibio was in fourth inning. After a leadoff single from Baylor Rowlett, Disibio retired the next two hitters. He then allowed a single to Tristan Hildebrandt and walked John MacLean to load the bases. With three teammates on base, Jake Chappell struck out to end the inning and the Pearl failed to cash in on their one big chance.
Kevin Hahn was the first man out of the ‘pen for Menlo Park and he delivered two solid innings of work. He started the ninth inning and allowed a bloop single behind second base to open up the ninth, and that allowed Calvin Riley a chance to lock down the inning for a save. He retired the three hitters he faced and stranded the tying run at second base for his second save of the summer, while giving Disibio his second win of the campaign.
Returning to action on Sunday are the Legends as they head home to Baylands Athletic Center for the final three games on their schedule. They host the Walnut Creek Crawdads at 1:00 PM on Host Family Appreciation Day. If you can’t make it out the ballpark, you can catch the game live on the Legends Radio Network.
