Sutter rallies for five in seventh to advance to SJS title game: Sutter UHS to face Bradshaw Christian in championship

May 16—It didn't look promising if you are a fan of the Sutter Union High baseball team entering the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday in game two of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V semifinals played at Arata Field on the campus of SUHS.

But a walk here, a hit there and a mindset to never quit enabled third-seeded Sutter to rally for five runs in the seventh to walk-off No. 2 Hughson, 6-5 and sweep the series for a second straight trip to the SJS championship game.

Sutter (24-6-1) advances to take on No. 1 Bradshaw Christian (28-1) in the D-V final starting at 6 p.m. May 22 at Islander's Park in Lathrop.

It's a rematch of last year's final that Sutter won 4-3 in 13 innings at Sacramento City College.

Head coach Stewart Peterson said his team always plays to the last out each time it takes the field.

"We always say as long as you still got an at-bat you got a chance," Peterson said in a live interview on 'X,' following Wednesday's semifinal. "They showed their championship pedigree."

Down 5-1 entering its final at-bat, Sutter opened the rally with a lead-off walk. Then Logan Yacavace, one of eight seniors, got a scoring base hit to make it 5-2. Sutter would work another base on balls with the bags full to cut the deficit to 5-3. At that point, Hughson elected to bring in its third pitcher to try and stop the bleeding.

Andrew Fisher opened with Ezra Hilleary and lost the battle when Hilleary struck a one-out single to left to score two and tie the game at five.

Up next was Jonny Munger, and the junior pounded the ground again to get home the runner from third and celebrate a walk-off 6-5 win over Hughson.

"I was just trying to get it through (and) It got the job done," Munger said.

Munger credited the team's energy as remaining the same despite an early 5-0 hole that Hughson struck with a help of scoring balk, a couple wild pitches from starter Jagger Beck and an infield throwing error on a double play attempt that scored a runner from third.

Hughson starter Max Mankins helped Sutter stay off the base paths through six innings. He allowed just three hits and one unearned run while striking out four before giving way to Paul Wagner in the seventh.

Those three outs proved too tough to collect as Sutter used its experience from last year's deep playoff run to put together a final rally to once again get the best of the Stanislaus County club for a fourth straight time.

Carson Bishop fired three shutout innings in relief for Sutter to earn the win.

Hughson finished 26-4 with half its losses coming to Sutter this spring.

Meanwhile, Sutter moves in on an opportunity to repeat as SJS D-V champions in only its second year as a member of the section.

"We are excited, we work all year through the cold, wet and rain and the guys are getting better," Peterson said. "We worked a long, long time to get back here."

In other action ...

Colusa 8, University Prep 2

The quest for a 3-peat in Northern Section Division IV begins for the Colusa baseball team after the RedHawks dispatched of University Prep in the semifinals to move into another title game with No. 3 Winters.

Colusa (26-3), the top-seed in the division, will take on Winters (17-11-1) at 10 a.m. at Butte College's Cowan Athletic Complex in Oroville.

The RedHawks put away University Prep with four in the fifth and three in the sixth inning. Adan Travis had three RBI and a double, while Sutter Moss connected on three hits and Seth Kalisuch added two and drove home a pair.

Luke Kalfsbeek, a Washington commit, struck out six in 3-plus innings to get the win.

Gridley 3, Orland 0

Gridley, last year's Northern California D-IV Regional runner-up, advanced to the NSCIF D-III title game on Saturday with a shutout of Orland.

The Bulldogs (16-8) take on top-seed Lassen at 1 p.m. at Butte College.

Emmet Smallwood struck out 11 over 6 innings, while allowing two hits, to lead Gridley to the win. Tanner Abbott finished out the one-inning save, striking out two in the seventh.

Other playoff scores

Twelve Bridges 2, Wheatland 0 (Wheatland eliminated)

To buy tickets in the Northern Section visit https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFNS and in the SJS visit https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFSJS.