Legends def. SF Seagulls 3-2
The Menlo Park Legends semiprofessional baseball team defeated the visiting San Francisco Seagulls 3-2 yesterday in a non-league competition at Cañada College in Redwood City.
The Legends put all three runs on the board in the first inning, and the Seagulls were unable to grab a lead for the rest of the game. Leadoff man and second baseman Tyger Pederson got on base and was quickly knocked in on a single to left-center by shortstop Pierson Jeremiah. Third baseman Grant Nelson then hit a triple, knocking Jeremiah in. Nelson would go on to score off of a single to left by first baseman CJ Jacobe. From that point on, the Legends wouldn’t score again.
“We had a lot of really quick innings,” manager David Klein said. “We executed a hit and run early in the game. We got our three runs in the first and that seemed to be the difference in the game.”
The Seagulls were unable to score any runs against Legends’ Starter DJ Sharabi, who found his groove early, allowing three hits and striking out two batters through five innings. However, off of two wild pitches in the 8th inning by Corey Zirbes and Alon Leichman, the Seagulls managed to put their two runs on the board. Other than that, the Legends pitching staff only allowed six hits as a whole.
Over the weekend, the Legends had the opportunity to play in the 2012 Rawlings California Cup down in San Luis Obispo. Though the Legends won 2 of 3 games, they were unable to make it to the championship round. However, the team came back from a 9-1 deficit against the San Luis Obispo Blues—the 20th ranked team in the country—in their final game.
“In my four years, I have never—scratch that. In my entire life I haven’t witnessed as convincing as a comeback as we had down there. We scored every inning and outplayed them for every inning on,” Klein said.
Trailing 9-1 after the second inning, Menlo Park rallied and scored in every single inning after that. Utility man Jeff Keller went 4-for-6 on the day, centerfielder Andrew Castañeda had three hits, and Jeremiah and Pedersen added two more each.
This game, as Klein noted, goes down in history as one of the greatest Legends game of the team’s existence. Though the team does not get an automatic bid for the National Baseball Congress World Series, Klein had nothing but praise for his team.
“I’m very happy with how we played down there,” he said. “We’ve really got a great team this year.”
The Legends host the Bakersfield Braves tomorrow at 5:00pm at Cañada College.
-Max Darrow, Legends Sportswriter
