Coast Union baseball stymied by Azusa pitching in 1st-round CIF playoff game

The Coast Union baseball team landed a home game to start the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 playoffs thanks to its Coast Valley League championship — but in a first-round game against Azusa, it was a case of the old adage “good pitching beats good hitting.”

The Broncos were held to three hits and struck out 11 times against Aztec pitching — six of those whiffs were called third strikes — and Coast was blanked 3-0 on May 17.

The Broncos did have several scoring chances — due to a couple of Aztec errors and walks — but Coast couldn’t come up with the clutch hit to bring those runs home.

Riley Kennedy doubled, Will Stephenson and Nate Markham each singled, and that was it for the Bronco bats.

Coast Union ace Chase Volz pitched very well, giving up just one unearned run against the Aztecs. Volz fielded his position brilliantly, charging off the mound several times to gobble up little bleeders in front of home plate and making strong off-balance throws to first baseman Cristian Castillo in time.

Meanwhile, coach Brian Machado will lose four seniors to graduation this spring: Kennedy, Will Stephenson, Volz and Edgar Nunez. Stephenson’s freshman brother, Zach, who did a fine job as catcher for Coast, will return, along with front-line sophomores Nate Markham, David Amodei and Emany Plasencia.

The Broncos’ overall record for 2018 was 7-13, but their winning streak in the CVL is now up to 48 straight games.

This story was originally published May 19, 2018 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Coast Union baseball stymied by Azusa pitching in 1st-round CIF playoff game."