Coast Union drops four in Atascadero baseball tourney
The Coast Union baseball team seemingly couldn’t catch a break during spring break at the Atascadero Easter Baseball Classic. On Monday, April 2, the Broncos were shut out by Dublin High School, 14-0.
Tuesday morning’s game (April 3) pitted the Broncos against the Saint Anthony High School Saints from Long Beach, and the Saints racked up 17 hits to down Coast 15-5 in six innings. Later that day, the Broncos had to face the Atascadero Greyhounds (a school with an enrollment of 1,493), and Coast lost 19-0 in a five-inning game.
Bronco head coach Brian Machado was without two of his pitchers – Riley Kennedy was on vacation, and David Amodei had suffered a broken left wrist in a snowboarding accident – and the Greyhounds received 13 walks, according to MaxPreps.
Coast’s best chance to win a game in the tournament came Wednesday, April 4, against the Rancho Mirage Rattlers. The Broncos scored a run in the first inning; Emany Plasencia led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a Will Stephenson hit – and came home when Edgar Nunez-Guevara hit into a double play.
But notwithstanding a fine pitching performance by Coast’s Chase Volz (who held Rancho Mirago to four hits and four walks in seven innings), the Rattlers picked up two runs in the third to nip the Broncos, 2-1.
Coming into this week, the Broncos are 1-9, and they played Valley Christian Academy (VCA) on Tuesday, April 10, to open defense of their 2017 Coast Valley League title.
“Money is on the line on Tuesday,” Machado said in a text interview Saturday, April 7, assessing the game against VCA.
The VCA Tuesday game results came in too late to make the deadline for this week’s Cambrian. The next home game for the Broncos is April 19, a 3:30 p.m. contest that will be broadcast on KTEA-FM (103.5) and streams on 1035ktea.com. It will be the Broncos’ first home game since Friday, March 30.
Boys tennis
The Coast Union tennis team – after having several matches canceled due to rainy weather – hosts Dunn School at home in a 3 p.m. matchup Thursday, April 12.
Meantime coach Shannon Sutherland has announced the top seeds on her team. The No. 1 seed is Giovanni Espinoza.
No. 2 seed: Eric Hollingsead. No. 3: David Nolan. No. 4: Paul Butterfield.
This story was originally published April 9, 2018 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Coast Union drops four in Atascadero baseball tourney."