LJ baseball 2, El Capitan 1 - CIF D3 play-in game

Viking LF Andrew Cho bunts on a squeeze play,

bringing in Travis Lancaster for La Jolla's second

run in a 2-1 win over El Capitan Tues., May 14.

The Vikings play number-one Valhalla

Wednesday. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

As Viking Ryan Kestler gathered Andrew Conyers' groundball into his big first baseman's glove and went to the base to tap it for the final out, a big smile began to spread over his face as he and pitcher Cole Roberts converged. Roberts came over to the bag in case Kestler needed to make a toss, but Ryan had plenty of time, so he took it to the bag himself.

Roberts, a senior, pitched a complete-game win--extending his La Jolla career school record for complete games to 16, his seventh this season--giving up one run, and leftfielder Andrew Cho had a hand in both Viking runs as La Jolla downed El Capitan, 2-1, Tues., May 14, to move on to a David-Goliath tussle at Division 3 number-one seed Valhalla Wednesday.

In the second inning, Cho, hitting a consistent .264 in 25 games in his senior season, drove in Travis Lancaster for the Vikes' first run off Vaquero righthander Brody McAuliffe, notable for his long, straight hair hanging down to the middle of his back.

Then, in the bottom of the fourth with no outs, Cho came up after DH Harper Lane bunted his way onto base following rightfielder Travis Lancaster's leadoff double down the left field line.

With Lancaster on third, Andrew also bunted, this one to the left of the mound. Travis sprinted to the plate on the squeeze. McAuliffe, though agile, in his hurry over-ran the ball and everyone was safe, the run upping La Jolla's lead to 2-0.

Coach Gary Frank's squad could not capitalize any further, and the inning ended.

But Roberts, achieving his eighth victory against three losses, with a sparkling 1.69 ERA, scattered eight hits and didn't allow El Capitan to score until the seventh inning. With a runner on third with two outs, a run in, Cole retired Conyers for the final out and he and Kestler embraced as the rest of the Vikings began to celebrate winning the elimination game.

Cole threw 95 pitches in seven innings, McAuliffe 105 in six innings in also going the distance.

Roberts, the lefty, completed seven of his 12 starts this season. Last year he completed nine of 10 starts, for the combined total of 16 complete games in his LJHS career.

McAuliffe, the Vaqueros' ace, finished his senior season at 7-2, with a 1.65 ERA.