University City High was part of a first prep baseball series played on the perfect turf of the Padres’ Petco Park downtown Friday, April 12. In the final matchup of five prep games, the Mission Bay Bucs pulled out a 4-3 win over the Centurions with a most dramatic finale.
The Bucs defeated University City April 9 with a 10th-inning hit to close out the 3-2 battle with a walk-off RBI.
The rubber-match between the two Western League rivals was just as close.
Mission Bay gave up a run in the first inning when the Bucs’ first baseman was unable to dig out a throw in the dirt that allowed a UC run to score. But the Bucs answered in the top of the second when their designated hitter drove in a run with a double to the gap.
The middle innings of the game were dominated by the pitchers while just one run was scored by UC in the fourth.
In the sixth inning the Bucs cut loose. When the Centurions replaced their pitcher, the first three Bucs produced singles to load the bases with no outs, followed by a clean bunt and then a drive to deep right that earned a sacrifice fly RBI. After a two-RBI double under pressure, the Bucs had a 4-2 lead.
Two outs went up on the board in the last inning, and it looked like the Bucs’ 2-run lead might hold up. But a passed ball and a hit batter led to the Centurions’ big designated hitter striding to the plate ” potentially the winning run. He was walked on a full count.
A hot grounder slapped between first and second base brought a UC runner across the plate, while their coach signaled another runner to go for the tying run.
But the Bucs catcher was perfectly positioned to block the plate ” the slide collided with his shins a foot from the plate while the tag slapped the UC runner’s leg for the final out.