It’s still early in the high school baseball season, but Tuesday, March 18, was the setting of a big battle between the Fremont Firebirds and Santa Clara Bruins baseball teams. The winner would take sole control of first place in the El Camino division.
Fremont entered the afternoon 4-0 in league and 6-2 overall. Santa Clara, meanwhile, carried a record of 6-1 overall and 3-0 in league. It had all the makings of a clash of the Titans.
First place on the line, and in the very first inning, both teams showed their best selves. Fremont started ace lefty Tyler Gray on the mound, and his pitches were hitting their spots perfectly, except one.
Andrew Traffas, arguably the Bruins’ biggest star, launched a high fastball to his pull side over the right-field fence for a home run. It was a left-on-left moonshot, a rarity in Major League Baseball, much less high school ball.
Just two batters into the game, the Bruins had a 1-0 lead.
“He’s got a great swing, uses his lower half pretty darn well,” remarked Bruins Manager Pedro Martinez postgame. “He perfects that swing; he works on it over and over again.”
“It was an 0-0 count, just got a fastball up and in,” recalled Traffas on the first-inning homer. “Sent it over the fence.”
It was an inauspicious start for Gray on the mound, particularly because his stuff did look good out of the gate. Despite the early adversity, the southpaw’s performance didn’t waver. After the homer, Gray didn’t allow a single earned run the rest of the way in what ended up being a complete-game victory.
“It’s not too often a pitcher will give up a home run to start the game real early and then be able to keep his composure, be able to dig deep and still find a way to get outs, but he did just that,” chimed Firebirds Manager Pete Hernandez. “He pitched really well; I’m proud of him.”
“I just tell myself that I have to stay focused the whole time, always be locked in 100 percent,” responded Gray on his resiliency after giving up the early homer. “I know I’m the best player on the field at all times; I’m just ready to compete with every pitch.”
Every pitch in Gray’s arsenal appeared to be working as he stifled the Bruins from there on out. The only other run the Bruins scored came on what should have been an inning-ending double play, but a sloppy error allowed a run to score.
The Firebirds could have let the early mistakes bring down the team’s morale, but the very next half inning, the offense dropped a five-spot on the Bruins. While Fremont took advantage of some dismal defense from Santa Clara, it also came up with big at bats in key spots.
Kevin Kowal led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on leadoff man Connor Armstrong’s solid single into the five-and-a-half hole. Gray helped himself with a two RBI single just past the glove of Bruins first baseman Zach Gallegos. Kishan Shah hammered a line drive to right for an RBI single. At the end of the third-inning rally, the Firebirds had turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead.
Fremont would add an additional insurance run in the sixth, but the Firebirds wouldn’t need to use it as Gray closed out the Bruins. He and the rest of the Firebirds walked away in first place with an impressive 6-2 win.
Related Post:
Unexpected Perspectives in Bruins 16-0 Win Over Condors
