After tallying only one hit through the first two innings on Wednesday, the American Canyon High School baseball team gathered before the bottom of the third inning and chanted “hits on me! one, two, three – hits!”
Like clockwork, juniors Cole Gholar and Matthew Schmaling connected for back-to-back base hits before Royce Hall and Andre Lopez drove them home with a groundout and fielder’s choice, respectively.
Although the Wolves only added two more hits the rest of the way, the two-run lead was all starting pitcher Dylan Brown needed to guide American Canyon to a 3-1 victory over Stuart Hall in the first round of the North Coast Section Division III playoffs.
“It took having a pitcher, throwing strikes and grinding out there, which Dylan did because our offense wasn’t the juggernaut that we were hoping for,” American Canyon head coach Matt Brown said.
Dylan Brown, who started the season as a closer, picked up his second straight complete-game victory. He finished with seven strikeouts while allowing just four hits and one walk.
“It was awesome,” the pitcher said. “It felt good to just compete for my team and be able to give my offense a chance.”
With the win, seventh-seeded American Canyon will travel to Oakland for a matchup against second-seeded Head-Royce in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Matt Brown said he wants his hitters to make quicker adjustments in the next round.
“The last few pitchers that we’ve seen in league were flamethrowers, and to see somebody who wasn’t throwing as hard, I think kind of caught us off guard,” the coach said. “So being able to make an adjustment so that we’re on time no matter what kind of velocity we see.”
Dylan Brown found himself in a tight situation in the seventh, as Stuart Hall’s ever-so-dangerous leadoff hitter, Alex Heinicke, stepped up to the plate with no outs and a runner on first.
Heinicke, who was 2-for-2 on the day, worked his way to a 3-2 count and fouled off three straight pitches before Dylan Brown buckled down to strike him out swinging. Brown then induced two groundouts to seal the victory.
“He’s a really good hitter and I knew him coming up in the last inning was going to make or break the inning,” Dylan Brown said. “It was a great battle.”
American Canyon’s Cole Gholar fist bumps the first base coach after hitting a single in the Wolves’ 3-1 victory over Stuart Hall in the first round of the North Coast Section Division III playoffs on Wednesday. (Jahson Nahal/Times-Herald)
In the fifth, Brown hit Dominic Gutierrez and loaded the bases after a double and bunt single. With one out, Ryder Anderson drove home Gutierrez on a groundout, but Brown prevented any further damage by forcing another grounder to end the inning.
“It was mostly my changeup and breaking ball,” Dylan Brown said. “Having to change speeds, I think it helped me a lot. It just got the weak ground balls and outs.”
With American Canyon in need of an insurance run, Hall led off the sixth with a triple to the right-field wall. Hall was a bright spot for a struggling Wolves offense, going 2-for-3 with a double, triple and RBI.
“Most of our guys were flying out, popping up, they were in front of the pitches” Matt Brown said. “Royce was on time, had some great at-bats and came through when we needed him.”
After Lopez grounded out, Mason Harris lined an RBI single to left, extending American Canyon’s lead to 3-1.
Despite allowing a leadoff single in the seventh, Dylan Brown stayed composed and recorded three outs to send the Wolves to the quarterfinals.
“We had full confidence that if he could keep his pitch count down enough that he’d be able to handle it,” Matt Brown said. “I’m super proud of him and like I said, when you’re not scoring a lot of runs, then you need somebody out there throwing strikes.”