Prep baseball: Windsor hands Cardinal Newman 1st loss of year with stunning walk-off win

Football, basketball and now baseball — again.

The Windsor and Cardinal Newman rivalry added another epic chapter Wednesday as the Jaguars scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the nationally ranked and previously undefeated Cardinals 5-4 in walk-off fashion on a wet and gloomy afternoon at Windsor High School, setting up a winner-take-all game Friday at Cardinal Newman for the North Bay League Oak division title.

Elijah Hackathorn delivered the deciding knock for Windsor (16-5, 7-2), a deep sacrifice fly to right center that allowed Seth England to jog home as the winning run. Brayden Colletto had tied the game at 4-4 a batter earlier on a bloop single that floated over the heads of the pulled-in Cardinal Newman (21-1, 8-1) infield.

The wild ending played out eerily similar to last year’s NBL-Oak finale, when Windsor scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to steal a 4-3 win and the series sweep in a game that forced a split of the league pennant.

“Déjà vu, for sure,” Windsor head coach Dave Avila said. “Our whole plan was to try to withstand (Cardinal Newman ace Mason Lerma), because he’s a heck of a pitcher, and see if we can get to that bullpen like last year. We got lucky and it worked again.”

Lerma, a UC Davis commit who has thrown a no-hitter and nearly had two perfect games this season, was pulled with one out in the seventh due to pitch-count rules. He struck out eight and battled back after allowing five hits and three runs in the first inning. He allowed just two hits over his final five innings, the last of which came off the bat of Noah Strozewski to start the last-ditch rally.

Strozewski’s knock was followed in quick succession by a single from England. Both runners then moved into scoring position on a passed ball, which prompted the Cardinals’ second pitching change of the inning.

On the very next pitch, Colletto blooped his RBI single into the gap on the left side of the infield, tying the game and setting the stage for Hackathorn.

Facing a 1-2 count, Hackathorn delivered, launching a fastball out to the fence in deep right center. As Strozewski scored from third, the Jaguars raced down the first base line, right in front of the Cardinal Newman dugout, and buried Hackathorn under a dog pile.

“That at-bat, I was looking fastball, so I sat on the off-speed, waited on the fastball and I got it and I definitely executed,” said the senior catcher. “I was just looking to stay simple, don’t do too much and I just found barrel and just executed.”

Hackathorn finished 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs, the first of which tied the game at 1-1 early on. Shortly after that RBI knock, the game entered a 30-minute rain delay, after which Windsor took early control of the contest.

TJ Karriker launched the first pitch after the delay all the way to the center-field fence, which scored two runs and gave the Jaguars a 3-1 advantage. The Cardinals struck first on a run-scoring error to open the game.

Newman came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the third on a two-run home run from Brady Boyd, his second of the year. An inning later, the Cardinals retook the lead after Diego Boardman scored Jack Lazark after Lazark opened the inning with a double.

Through it all, Windsor starting pitcher Carson Dillon operated unphased. He finished the complete game on just 90 pitches, striking out six with no walks, six hits and three earned runs allowed.

“We’re back in the same position we were last year,” the senior right-hander said. “We have the chance to take it from them again and sweep them in the last series of the year. It’s just a roller-coaster of emotions and I’m so proud of my guys. They all bought in and never gave up. We’ve been working all year for this.”

For a regular-season game, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Friday’s series finale. The Cardinals can still clinch the NBL-Oak title outright with a win, get even with their rivals and start to rebuild momentum for the playoffs after starting the year 21-0 and becoming one of the highest-ranked teams in school history.

Entering Wednesday, they were No. 8 in the state in CalHi Sports’ rankings and No. 9 in the nation and No. 4 in California in MaxPreps’ computer rankings.

Windsor, meanwhile, has a chance to pull off a stunning upset for the second year in a row. A win Friday for the Jaguars would once again force a share of the league pennant and deal another blow to their rivals.

“We’re at their place and I know they’re going to be loud, they want it, but they saw what we did last year, they saw what we did today, we came back for blood and it’s going to happen again,” Dillon said.

First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.