Prep baseball: Windsor upsets Cardinal Newman in potential league-clincher

The North Bay League-Oak title could have been decided at Cardinal Newman on Tuesday when the first-place Cardinals hosted second-place Windsor in the final week of the regular season.

The Cardinals, the No. 22 team in the state in CalHi Sports’ rankings, entered the game with a two-game lead over the Jaguars in what was the first meeting of the final two-game series of the league slate. A Cardinals win meant that they alone would be the ones to raise the league pennant.

But after a 5-4 win for the Jaguars, who takes home the league crown will come down to the final game of the regular season at Windsor on Thursday.

Windsor (18-5, 7-2), the No. 4 team in The Press Democrat’s top 10, jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and then held on down the stretch as No. 1 Cardinal Newman (18-3, 8-1) whittled down the deficit in the later innings.

The Cardinals cut the deficit to 5-2 in the fourth and added two more runs in the sixth before Windsor’s Brett Neidlinger, who entered in relief of starter Antonio Rivera, ended the sixth with a strikeout and threw a perfect one-two-three seventh to seal the win.

“We came in kind of with a nothing-to-lose attitude,” said Windsor head coach Dave Avila. “It was just, hey, let’s be as aggressive as possible, let’s do what we do, and when the dust settles let’s see who gets the W. Now we’re going home to our place and we’re in a good position.”

Rivera earned the win in another impressive outing. He was perfect through three-plus innings before a two-out error kick-started the Cardinals’ rally in the fourth. For the day, he went 5⅔ innings with four hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts to improve to 7-2 on the year.

He said after the game that Windsor was well aware of what was at stake on Tuesday.

“Newman is a great team and we knew that we would have to play our game to be able to have a chance at winning today,” said Rivera. “We prepped in practice, got our minds right, got ready to compete today and I think that played a large role today in how we performed.”

From the get-go it seemed like it would be Windsor’s day.

The Jaguars scored five runs in the first, all with two outs, chasing Cardinal Newman starter Tanner Bradley after just an inning of work.

With two runs already across, thanks to hits from Brayden Colletto and Damian Escarcega, sophomore TJ Karriker brought home two more runs with a bases-loaded single to make it 4-0. Escarcega then scampered home on a passed ball a batter later to make it 5-0.

Jack Larson entered in relief of Bradley and finished out the final six innings with six strikeouts and seven hits. He worked out of a big jam in the second inning, escaping with no runs allowed with two runners in scoring position, and also got a big play from his defense in the fifth to keep the game within reach.

On a single to left from Escarcega, Nate Phelps threw out Neidlinger at the plate trying to score from second.

“We had some opportunities early in that game after the five-run inning,” said Avila. “We hit some balls hard, but their guy settled in. He threw great.”

In the fourth, Rivera nearly kept his perfect game alive but threw away a routine ground ball that put Anane Wilson on second. Two batters later, Jack Larark doubled in Wilson before Vero Poueu followed with another double to make it 5-2.

In the sixth, the Cardinals got runners to second and third with two outs and Gavin Rognlien brought them both home with a single to left.

“We were starting to get down on ourselves, but we’re a good baseball team,” said Karriker, who went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. “We knew we could hold them off.”

It wasn’t easy, and was certainly nerve-wracking for Avila watching from the dugout, but the Jaguars have new life and they’ll look to make the most of it on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“We said we wanted to play for a league title and guess what? Last game of the season we’re playing for a league title,” said Avila. “It’s awesome.”

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