NorCal baseball regionals: In an extra-inning classic, De La Salle survives against Franklin-Elk Grove
CONCORD – It was one of those rare contests that lived up to the pre-game hype. And then some.
When No. 2 seed De La Salle scored a run in the ninth to beat third-seeded Franklin 6-5 in the semifinals of the CIF NorCal Division I semifinals Thursday, fans who were on the edge of their seats for most of the game stood up and gave the players a rousing ovation.
Tanner Griffith’s single to right-center in the bottom of the ninth drove in pinch-runner Joe McGee for the winning score. Reliever Cal Randall was the winning pitcher, working the final 2⅔ innings after starter RJ Meyn went the first 6⅓ frames.
De La Salle (26-5) takes on Valley Christian Saturday for the D-I championship. Franklin finished the season at 30-5.
The game was an encore to the hype before the first pitch.
Both starting pitchers, juniors Meyn from De La Salle and Nic Abraham from Franklin, came into the contest with 10-0 records. They departed before either could get a decision.
Franklin had won 16 games in a row before Thursday’s meeting with De La Salle. It was last defeated on April 6 by St. Mary’s-Stockton.
De La Salle was 28-0 in North Coast Section and NorCal playoff competition since 2016.
The spectaculars continued when the teams took the field.
The Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, scoring on an error and a passed ball. The Wildcats answered with three in the top of the third to go ahead 3-2.
Back came De La Salle in the bottom of the third. Freshman Tyler Spangler tripled. Smith Chandler singled home Spangler, then moved to second on a single by Griffith.
Chandler and Griffith executed a double steal, and Chandler scored on a ground out by Connor Harrison. The Spartans were back on top 4-3.
Franklin evened the count at 4-4 with a run in the fourth. It stayed that way until the sixth, when Harrison, the younger brother of Giants top prospect, left-hander Kyle Harrison, drilled the first pitch of the inning over the left field fence to make it 5-4.
“It was my third at-bat,” Harrison said. “They were throwing me nothing but sliders and curves. I had a couple of ugly swings. I finally hit a slider.”
The homer was his third of the season. He leads De La Salle with 35 RBI and has a .415 batting average.
De La Salle’s lead lasted for exactly one batter. The second hitter up in the top of the seventh, Delta League Player of the Year Nolan Stevens, homered to left to make it 5-5.
De La Salle coach David Jeans opted to start the seventh with Meyn.
“They had two left-handed hitters leading off, and he (Meyn) had done well against them,” the coach explained.
They were a combined 2 for 6 with two runs scored, but the second run was the result of an error. Stevens, however, is a Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospect and has signed a letter of intent to Mississippi State.
Meyn was immediately taken out after Stevens’ home run. He worked 6⅓ innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (three earned) and struck out five.
“I was coming off a little bit of short rest, throwing 108 pitches less than a week ago,” said Meyn, a Santa Clara commit. “I didn’t totally have the change up today, but I battled through that and gave it the best I had.”
Randall, who hadn’t pitched since May 16, was superb. He walked the first batter he faced,, then retired seven in a row before allowing a two-out single by Stevens in the ninth.
Asked why he hadn’t pitched for two weeks, the UCLA-bound right-hander said, “Weird things. I I had a little bump in the road. I’m back. It’s all good.”
Randall, also rated on the Baseball America’s Top 500 draft prospects, said he was sharp with his fastball and curve.
“I was throwing my fastball a little extra fast,” he said.
The game-winning rally began with Spangler drawing a leadoff walk. McGee, the pinch-runner, took off for second on a walk to Chandler and advanced to third on a throwing error by the Franklin catcher, who thought Chandler was trying to steal second.
Griffith then launched a deep fly to right-center. The Franklin outfield was playing shallow and the ball landed untouched for the game-winning hit.
“I hit a changeup,” Griffith said. “I saw it and did my thing.”
It looked like the game would end in the eighth when De La Salle loaded the bases with nobody out, But sophomore Dylan Wood replaced Abraham (113 pitches) and ended the threat by striking out two batters and getting the other out on a pop out to second.