Rancho Mirage baseball can't dig out of early hole in semifinal setback

While "small ball" seems to be a thing of the past in Major League Baseball, visiting Colony High brought it back against Rancho Mirage, using the art of bunting, base-stealing and putting pressure on the defense to open up an early lead and control Tuesday's Division 6 CIF-SS semifinal.

Colony put all of that on display in a six-run second inning and that was the springboard to a 10-6 win.

The setback ended a historic season for the Rattlers who advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history. Even in this game, in which they fell behind 10-1, they showed their resolve. Between the fifth and seventh innings, they plated five runs, and were one batter away from having the tying run at the plate.

"We let that second inning get out of hand a little bit," Rancho Mirage head coach David Shaw said. "We knew that was their M.O., and they executed it well and put pressure on us, and we didn't make the plays we needed to make it kind of snow-balled on us."

That fateful inning broke down like this. Jacob Castro led off with a single. He stole second and came home on a single by Adrian Rodriguez. After a walk put runners on first and second, Carlos Barba laid down a pretty bunt toward third.

The Rattlers' throw to first was wild and went into foul territory. When the dust settled, both runners came around to score and Barba ended up on third base. A single by James Cook scored Barba to make it 4-0. After a sacrifice bunt and a walk, it was the ninth batter of the inning Diego Martinez-Gomez who traded small-ball for big-ball with a clutch two-out two-run double over the left fielder's head.

It was a six-run outburst and silenced the large crowd that had assembled to root on the Rattlers in their first-ever semifinal.

By the time the bottom of the fifth came around, Colony, from Ontario, had a 10-1 lead, but Rancho Mirage wasn't about to go down without swinging. They pushed across four runs in the fifth to make it 10-5. Then in the bottom of the seventh, they made Colony sweat. Malakai Lopez had a one-out infield single. He came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Edward Castro to make it 10-6. J.C. Ramirez followed with a single to put two runners on, but before the tying run could come to the plate, Marcos Ceja hit a sinking liner that held up long enough for the Colony left-fielder to corral it and end the game.

The season ending one game short of the championship game stings, but it doesn't dampen the fantastic year the Rattlers put together. The school had never made the quarterfinals before and then to win a quarterfinal with a one-hit 15-strikeout gem by Lopez just added to the historic run.

"Our program had never been past the second round before, so I'm very proud of these boys," Shaw said. "This accomplishment is great for the kids from the past that kind of helped get us here and the younger guys that are going to be back next year."

The senior group — Lopez, Jordan Lerma, Michael Rodriguez, Erik Beltran and Ramirez — put their stamp on this program and can hold their heads up high with this record-breaking run.

"There's five of them and they are great human beings and I think that's what makes them such great individuals on and off the field," Shaw said of his seniors. "We have a large sophomore class and they trust the seniors who lead by example not just in baseball, but how they treat each other and take care of themselves. It's what makes our program special, the way the older guys set great examples."

The Rattlers were led at the plate by Lopez who was 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Kobee Finnikin was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Ramirez finished with two RBIs and two hits and Jesus Gutierrez scored twice. The Rattlers didn't help themselves defensively with five errors in the game, though Colony committed four of its own.

Colony, the No. 2-ranked team in the division, advances to the championship game to face the No. 8 seed Village Christian in the Division 6 championship game which will be Friday or Saturday in Lake Elsinore. Village Christian beat Diamond Bar 4-2 on Tuesday.

The Rattlers, which were the No. 6 team in the division, end their season with a 24-8 record including a second-place finish in the Desert Empire League with a 10-5 record.

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Rancho Mirage baseball can't dig out of early hole in semifinal setback