NCS baseball roundup: De La Salle escapes another last-inning rally
For the second time this week, De La Salle flirted with a seventh-inning disaster while trying to protect a multi-run lead in the North Coast Section Division I playoffs.
And just as they did in the opening round against Heritage, the Spartans survived.
The defending champions allowed three runs in the seventh on Friday before a game-ending strikeout sealed a 4-3 victory over visiting Novato, an outcome that moved top-seeded De La Salle into the semifinals on Tuesday at home against fifth-seeded Redwood.
Nash Beckman had the offensive highlight for the Spartans, hitting a line-drive double to center to drive in three runs in the fourth inning.
But as it turned out, Zach Tchejeyan's double that followed, which knocked in Beckman to make it 4-0, was the run De La Salle needed to advance.
The seventh inning began quietly enough for De La Salle as Trevor Cleary flew out to center.
After that, the next five Novato batters reached base to cut the margin to 4-2. A fielder's choice made it 4-3 and left runners at first and third.
On Tuesday, 16th-seeded Heritage scored six runs in the seventh against De La Salle to tie the score, only to lose 11-10 in the home half of the inning.
On Friday, Roman Bartosh ended the suspense before it got that far with a called third strike for the final out.
De La Salle improved to 20-4, 20-1 on the field.
Three of its losses were by forfeit after a self-imposed five-game suspension to begin the season for violations of school policy, team rules and code of conduct,
Novato, seeded eighth, finished 21-7.
No. 2 Clayton Valley Charter 3, No. 7 Monte Vista 1: Nolan Trautner's groundout tied the score in the fourth and Tavion Stafford's two-out double in the fifth knocked in Charlie Reyes to give Clayton Valley the lead for good as the Ugly Eagles defeated Monte Vista to advance to the semifinals.
Reyes' double with two outs started the fifth-inning rally. Michael Walton brought home Stafford later in the frame with a single that stretched the lead to 3-1.
Nick Barron' home run in the second had given Monte Vista a 1-0 lead.
Clayton Valley (23-3) will host Granada on Tuesday.
Monte Vista finished 19-7.
No. 6 Granada 8, No. 14 Alhambra 6: Granada is back in the NCS semifinals one year after being upset in the quarterfinals, and a long three-day week of baseball has proven to be worth it for the Matadors (18-8).
Playing at home thanks to Alhambra’s upset of College Park, the Mats scored four times in the fifth to build an 8-3 edge and held on despite a spirited Alhambra rally.
The Bulldogs (15-10) scored once in the sixth, twice in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate, but Jack Badger came through again for Granada by striking out Justin Martinez to end the game.
Tyler Palma drove in three runs for Granada, with Joseph Holt, Luke Creeden and Colton Rieke each adding one. Shane Cowperthwaite had three RBIs for Alhambra, Ismael Rivera-Parra had two and Justin Martinez one.
Division III
No. 1 Las Lomas 7, No. 8 El Cerrito 6 (8):The top seed in Division III needed extra innings to survive El Cerrito at home, as Preston Hillis drove in Andrew Misasi with the game-winning single in the eighth.
A wild pair of final regulation innings saw Las Lomas (14-11) score three runs to tie the game 5-5 in the fifth, then El Cerrito (16-12) traded runs with the Knights in the seventh.
Cooper Wright led Las Lomas with three RBIs, while Julian Milojkovic, Andrew Misasi and Hillis each had one.
Will Reddall drove in two runs for El Cerrito, with Judah Durham, Reggie Burnham and Gus Crump adding one apiece.
Las Lomas faces No. 5 James Logan on Tuesday.
No. 7 San Marin 17, No. 2 St. Mary’s-Berkeley 4: Tied 3-3 after five innings, St. Mary's ran out of gas on its home field in what became a blowout loss in the quarterfinals of the NCS playoffs.
San Marin scored six runs in the sixth and eight in the seventh to defeat a team that moved up three playoff levels after winning the section's Division VI championship last season.
Dylan Procopio had four hits, including a home run, and five RBIs for San Marin, which advanced to play at No. 3 Pittsburg on Tuesday while improving to 16-12.
Damien Nolan and Luca Vargas each had three hits for St. Mary's, which finished 19-8.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 9:44 PM.