The James Logan Courier

Courier Staff Report

James Logan’s scrappy, but young, varsity baseball team bowed out of the NCS championship tournament Saturday, ousted by Clayton Valley of Concord on a late-inning hit.

Logan battled to a tie in the game, 4-4, in the top of the final inning, but fell in the bottom of the inning, the seventh, when a walk turned into a run batted in for the Eagles.





The Colts, who were officially the visiting team despite playing at home, entered the seventh inning trailing 4-2. With a runner on second, Titus Romero hit a ground ball to shortstop, but an errant throw allowed a run to score and sent Romero to second base with no outs.

The Eagles’ ace Sean Burns came in the game as a reliever and struck out the Colts’ Rich Marquez. Travis Castillo reached first base on an error, which sent Romero to third base. Lead- off hitter Alex Murillo then bunted to score Romero on the squeeze play, tying the game 4-4.

Clayton Valley went to ace Sean Burns to try to close it out. He struck out Rich Marquez before Travis Castillo reached on an error giving Logan first and third.

Goulding decided to put on the squeeze with his leadoff man, Alex Murillo, at the plate, and Murillo laid down a perfect bunt, allowing Logan to tie the game. Logan almost scored again on a line drive hit to right by Colt Jason Alvarez, but a diving catch ended that threat.

The Eagles struck back quickly to end the game. The first hitter up drew a walk, went to second on a bunt then scored on a line drive to center field.

Clayton Valley, the second seed in the tournament, will face sixth seed Alameda in the semifinals on Wednesday at Clayton Valley.

Logan ends the season with a 21-8 record.