6/3/04 Poreda's masterful performance sinks Jets
Inexperience finally caught up to the Encinal High School baseball team last Saturday.
The Jets advanced to the North Coast Section 2A East Bay playoffs with just four seniors in what could be considered a rebuilding year.
Then the Jets ran into Campolindo left-hander Aaron Poreda.
Poreda took just 80 minutes and 61 pitches to complete a one-hit gem and key the Cougars' 3-0 victory Saturday over the Jets in a 2A East Bay quarterfinal in Moraga.
"We're real young, with not a lot of experience," Encinal coach Jim Saunders said. "That's why a team like (Campolindo) is going to (beat) us. We don't make the adjustments we need to."
Poreda, a 6-foot-5 senior headed to USF, struck out eight, walked one and faced the minimum 21 batters.
"He threw like we expected," Saunders said. "We're just not real aggressive at the plate. We made no two-strike adjustments."
The fourth-seeded Cougars (17-9) earned a semifinal date with No. 1 Acalanes at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Diablo Valley College.
Fifth-seeded Encinal, which finished 14-13, now looks ahead to next season when it returns a healthy portion of its roster. Dexter English and Phillip Taddei, two key bats in the middle of the order, are among those returning.
The Jets will have to replace seniors Ian Bautista, Luis Jimenez, Adrian Leyva and Wilber Sakakura.
Sakakura, a lefty pitcher who transferred to Encinal this spring from Brazil, tried his best to keep the Jets in Saturday's game.
He went the distance, scattering eight hits and allowing two earned runs. Sakakura pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning and kept the Cougars from breaking the game open.
"We're going to miss him," Saunders said. "He's pitched like that all year long. He deserved better."
Poreda allowed his only hit to Bautista to lead off the game, a sharp single back up the middle. But Bautista was doubled up at first after Campolindo shortstop Sean Irving caught a liner off the bat of Phillip Taddei.
Poreda (9-4) then retired 14 in a row before issuing a leadoff walk to Brandon Beal in the sixth and Campolindo leading 3-0. The Cougars answered with a 6-4-3 double play to suck the life out of Encinal's comeback hopes.
