Campos walks off Alonso win against Gaither

Alonso junior Jordan Campos (third from right, pink arm sleeve) escapes the postgame mob after his RBI walk-off single gave the Ravens a 5-4 victory against Gaither. 

By Mike Camunas, Creative Director

TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY — Jordan Campos was batting fifth for a reason.

“Jordan has been making some good contact so far (this season),” longtime Alonso coach Landy Faedo said. “He’s been swinging it good in practice and he’s a guy you want there in that spot, that goes up there and is aggressive. You know how it is — sometimes you just need a little luck to get going.

For more photos from this game, click here.

Jordan Campos cruises toward first base after sending his RBI groundball hit into centerfield and bringing the Ravens dugout charging on the field to celebrate.

Campos took a swing at his luck — a fastball, really — and it proved fortuitous, as the junior first baseman drove home the speedy Marcelo Diaz Villalon from second for the Ravens 5-4 walk-off win over Gaither on Tuesday night.

“I was just getting ready for a fastball and looking for my pitch,” Campos said, “which I took and just sent it right up the middle. … I have had a few walk offs in my lifetime, but that’s the first one at the varsity level.”

Seth Arevalo entered in the seventh inning with two runners aboard and the game tied, struck out a batter to end the top-half of the inning with the game tied. Arevalo was the beneficiary of Alonso’s walk-off, earning the win on the mound. 

The win moves Alonso to 6-2 this season, while Gaither drops to 6-3, and it marks a hot start for the Ravens, who have at least four players out with injuries and have three defensive guys hitting at the top of their lineup.

“The guy who scored (Diaz Villalon), he’s our closer, but he’s (not pitching this week),” Faedo said. “I just told him that we’ve got depth and guys that can come in and contribute, and they just battled, battled and battled till the end.”

Ravens SP Julian Batista allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings, striking out five.

With junior righty Julian Batista (5 Ks) starting on the mound for the Ravens, the Cowboys jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the second inning when Ryder Warriner drove home S.J. Branham (who reached on a HBP, but would also leave the game after scoring).

SJ Branham approaches the plate, scoring a Gaither run in the second inning after reaching base on a hit-by-pitch.

Alonso quickly tied it up, however, when Gaither right fielder Albert Antinori dropped a two-out flyball that allowed Aidan Sansing to score — then a passed ball with two outs in the third gave Alonso the lead when Johnny Rodriguez scored.

“I told the guys that we did make a lot of mistakes,” longtime Gaither coach Nelson North said. “(We had a) couple guys picked off and (the) pop ups and, you know, as long as they learn from it, that’ll be good.”

Gaither reliever Adam Smolka had five strikeouts across three innings.

Indeed, the Cowboys were picked off twice and left the bases loaded twice, including in the top of the fifth, when Warriner popped up a pitch down the right field line, and Ihonathan Perez made a diving catch.

“(Too many) guys left on base, which happens a lot, and that big hit eluded us tonight. A couple times, we definitely got the momentum, but we definitely let it get away,” North added.

Ravens 2B Elier Velazquez

For a while, Alonso was kept at bay at the plate thanks to three solid innings of relief from Adam Smolka, who despite not giving up a hit, saw a run score and issued two walks, but struck out five.

Gaither, however, did take a brief lead in the top of the sixth, thanks to a two-RBI double by David Pina, scoring Ryan Deak and Eddy Rojo.

Cowboys sophomore Ryan Deak heads to the plate. Deak was 3-for-3 with a run and RBI.

Senior Eddy Rojo dives into the plate on David Pina’s two-run double in the sixth.

But Alonso would answer with its own two-run sixth inning, as back-to-back singles by Jordan Brautigam and Elier Velazquez scored Zach Guerrero and Perez, respectively.

Ravens junior Jordan Brautigam is fired up at first base after tying the game with an RBI single to left in the sixth.

But in the seventh, junior reliever Freddy Sanchez kept missing the strike zone and allowed two walks with two outs trying to close out the game. Deak singled to score Yanier Chirinos to tie the game and eventually set up Campos’ heroics.

“It was a slow start for us,” Campos said, “but our team came up clutch when it mattered, especially our defense that came up clutch (with) a lot of (the) good mental plays that we made.”

Junior Freddy Sanchez.

As North figured, it was meant to be for Alonso.

“Well, right there (with the walk off hit),” he said, “we probably threw too good of a pitch, but you have to give them credit, and both teams battled hard.”

Gaither’s Angel Hernandez was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks.

Faedo, on the other hand, is happy with the team’s start to the season, especially the younger guys playing with maturity.

“We got guys who are making some heads up plays and paying attention to the situations,” he said “… It is what it is — we’re doing good, even though we have a lot of guys down, but we’re doing the little things right to win games.”

#11 Alonso 5
#9 Gaither 4

G 010|002|1 – |4|10|2
A 011|002|1 – |5|7|1
W – Arevalo (1-0); L – Linares (1-2)
2B – Pina 2 (G). Records – G (6-3); A (6-2).

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