SALINAS -- No. 19 West Valley baseball dropped 43 runs over a three-game set against the No. 25 Hartnell College Panthers, winning the final two games of the series to claim their first conference series win of the year. After a 10-inning heartbreaker on Tuesday, the Vikings took game two of the series at home, 9-7, before scoring 16 runs in a win on Friday.
"We are kind of getting, I can't say snake bit, but we're not catching breaks that we typically would catch," said head coach Bobby Hill. "We're playing hard and we're grinding, but things this year are just a little bit tougher than I expected, and that's okay."
In the first game of the series, a back-and-forth game ended up being 19-18 favoring Hartnell after a pair of eight-run innings for the Panthers (15-11, 3-3 Coast-South) created some distance. First baseman Jordan Montez had a two-homer game, including one to cut into a four-run ninth inning deficit, but a passed ball ended the game in the tenth.
The Vikings came back with a venegance in game two. After falling behind, 4-0, in the bottom of the fourth, another home run for Montez started a three-run inning to get the Vikings back in the game.
For Montez, the home run marked his 10th of the season and 16th as a Viking. His two home runs in the first game had him pass two program legends, former MLB Rookie of the Year Joe Charboneau and current-D1 two-way star Jayce Dobie, to push him into 8th place all-time. His third of the series tied him with Brett Bonvechio and Colin Spear in a three-way tie for the top-5.
"It means a lot for sure," said Montez on continuing to etch his name in the Viking record books. "I didn't even know. I don't really look into stats like that. I didn't even know that was a thing. But I mean, it comforts me knowing that all the hard work I've put in throughout the two or three years that I've been here, that it's actually finally paying off. It's only coming up from here, honestly.
Hill echoed the sentiment, acknowleding how the coaching staff has pushed Montez to become the best all-around athlete he could be. After redshirting his freshman year in 2024, Montez has become the definition of a program veteran over the last couple of years, and hits right in the middle of the Vikings' order.
"He's matured," Hill said of Montez. "He's becoming a hitter, not just a power hitter. He takes his homers. He's hitting mistakes. He's not missing. Hopefully that continues. But his body language, the way he's going about it, I know he wants to move on and play next year somewhere. And I told him this last year, 'hey, we need to lose some weight. We need to get in shape. We need to go prove some people wrong', and he's done that. And he got in the weight room over the summer. He pushed himself. He lost weight. He got stronger. People were afraid he was going to lose power because he lost weight. Hitters don't lose power. He hasn't lost it."
West Valley tied the game in the following inning, when Parker Kristall doubled off the wall in left and David Estrada got hit by a pitch. A throwing error from Emmet Desmond, the Hartnell catcher, scored Kristall, and an RBI single from Montez gave the Vikings the lead.
Brice Brunson held the door from the fourth through the sixth, tossing three scoreless innings while striking out five batters and walking none. After not appearing in a game for over a month, Brunson did a terrific job holding down the fort for an already-light Viking bullpen.
"He just gives me everything he's got," said Hill of Brunson. "So to see him do what he did right out there today, because that game could have went sideways. And he came in there and he shut it down. His composure was really outstanding for someone who hasn't seen the mound that much this year. So I was very proud of how he conducted his outing, how he controlled his demeanor, his energy, his aggression. Everything was all in all was good for him today.
But the Hartnell offense, extremely deep, walked three straight times off of Max Ghiglieri to open the inning. All three runners came around to score later in the frame as the game tied at seven. The teams traded scoreless frames in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, and momentum was on Hartnell's side.
Ghiglieri, however, led off the bottom of the eighth with a chopper to the right side, sprinting down the first base line and legging out an infield it. Joey Damelio laid down a perfect bunt to push him to second, and as the Hartnell third baseman John Clinkenbeard vacated the bag to field the bunt, Ghiglieri hustled to third with an open base. A wild pitch brought him home, and the Vikings extended their lead to two on an Estrada sacrifice fly.
"It was tough on the mound," admitted Ghiglieri, "but I knew I was still in the lineup so i had to do what I do best, and go out there and just flush everything that happened before that. Go get my [at-bat], get a run."
Ghiglieri has taken on an interesting role for the Vikings. He's has a team-best .370 batting average and was a power hitting, two-way player last year at Long Beach City College, but he's become the Vikings' ninth hitter. It's a role that a lot of players would be disinterested in or disrespected by, but Ghiglieri has taken the role in stride.
"I actually told [Coach Hill], I was like, 'hey, keep me in the nine hole. I'm hot down there. Don't move me around'. So I don't mind it down there. I get on, guys at the top of the order will get me in, so. I'm doing my job."
After entering late in the eighth, Aaron Baum closed the door in the ninth in 1-2-3 fashion.
The final game of the series, one that clinched the series for the Vikings, came a bit easier than the first two. A two-run homer for Estrada gave the Vikings an early 2-0 lead, and a Ryan Bays RBI double made it 3-0 in the top of the second. With the bases loaded in the top of the third, Bobby Hill reached on an error to push the lead to four. The Vikings then scored five in the fourth, with Kristall's 11th homer of the year and a two-run double from Hill pushing the lead to 9-1.
Hill, the Viking shortstop, has really turned a corner over his last two or three weeks of play. Over his last 13 games, the freshman is hitting .320, socking a pair of home runs including a grand slam and has 13 RBI over his last four games after having just seven to that point in the season.
"It's great to see the potential, the guy I know he is, the player I know he is," said Montez when asked about Hill. "It's great to see, because, that's my little brother. I've known him since he was five years old. It's just good to see, because I know that he has like that dog in him and I know he's a really good player. And to see him finally opening up and finally getting to the player he is, it's just great to see."
On the hill, Quincy Winkler flashed top-tier strikeout stuff but walked six batters in 3.1 innings before being replaced by Julian Ito. At one point, Ito struck out six straight batters and recorded seven straight outs by way of the K. Ito joked early in the season about a small sample size being the reason his strikeout numbers have jumped from last season, but it's evident now that his pitch mix has evolved and he's become one of the better strikeout pitchers in the conference. He struck out seven in just 3.2 innings, matching his career single-game high, and is now up to 38 strikeouts in just 33.2 innings pitched this year.
West Valley continued to tack on late, halting any momentum that the Hartnell offense tried to pick up.
Some of the biggest swings of the day came from catcher Ryan Bays. The sophomore was the Vikings' opening day starter behind the dish, and after an up-and-down freshman year, he's become a consistent, productive piece on both sides of the ball. He had two hits and two RBI in the opener and followed with his second four-hit game of the season, riding a fastball over the right field fence for his first as a Viking in the eighth inning. Apolo Lapiz, Bays' high school teammate at nearby Bellarmine, closed the door in the final two innings.
"We're getting everybody's best," said Coach Hill, acknowleding the difficulty of every series after back-to-back trips to the state championship. "We are the target. I've known that from the get-go, and it's okay. I honor it and I want it, and my guys just have to understand that every game is not going to be a walkover right now. But if we can piece it together, it could be. We just haven't pieced it together yet. But today's win, it was a tough one."
The Vikings now have another three-game set, this against a Gavilan team that just swept a series against Cabrillo. First pitch on the road in Gilroy is 2:30 PM on Tuesday.
