Cougars overcome adversity, win D3 section championship

SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – Following one swing of the bat, the Del Campo High School varsity baseball team found itself trailing 2-0 to top-seeded Vanden in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Championship game.

For the Cougars (29-5, 13-2 Capital Athletic League), this was just another day at the office. Nearly all season long, Del Campo responded each time its opponents’ scored, including Wednesday night at Sacramento City College’s Union Stadium. The “Cardiac” Cougars scored two runs in the fourth and eighth innings, respectively, en route to the team’s first section title since 2018, winning 4-2 in eight innings.

“This is the greatest Del Campo team in history,” said coach Kevin Dawidczik. “I know there’s a lot of teams maybe that would contest that because of the great teams we’ve had. I’m not saying the greatest talented team ever in Del Campo. But we’re 29-5, we’re the Division III section champions and we’re going to the NorCal Finals.”

Del Campo came into the final series of the regular season against Christian Brothers (8-18, 6-9) on May 2 needing a sweep to clinch the Capital Athletic League (CAL) Championship, and the team did exactly that.

Led by Dawidczik, the Cougars parlayed a 3-2 walk-off win in the first game into a dominant series sweep of the Falcons, concluding on May 6. Trailing by one run with three outs remaining and a league title essentially on the line, the “Cardiac” Cougars answered as they have all season, scoring twice in the last half inning to secure the series opener. Del Campo won game two 11-1 and game three 11-4 to clinch the CAL title.

The No. 2 seeded Cougars rolled through the first two rounds of single-elimination postseason play at home, defeating No. 15 Florin (17-11, 11-4 Greater Sacramento) 11-1 on May 10 and No. 10 Ponderosa (18-13, 11-7 Foothill Valley) 11-4 two days later.

RELATED: Cougars remain hot with 8 straight wins, 17 of last 18

The semifinals of the 2022 CIF SJS D3 Baseball Playoffs are where tempers began to flare, and not between players. Del Campo faced off against No. 6 Buhach Colony (24-9, 9-3 Central California) of Atwater in a best of three series. Game one was played at Del Campo on May 16.

Both teams scored once in the fourth inning. The Thunder thought they retook the lead on a solo home run in the top of the fifth. However, the base runner failed to step on first base. Dawidczik noticed the mistake and had his defense tag first base before bringing it to the umpires’ attention. Buhach Colony was called out, subsequently angering the team’s coach Joseph Medeiros and fans that traveled over 120 miles to attend the game.

Frustrations temporarily subsided as the game continued. Each team scored one run in the sixth, keeping the game deadlocked. Del Campo won the game in the bottom of the seventh inning on a walk off hit by senior infielder Tyler Moore to score junior outfielder Luke Tuter. The call at the plate was close, but umpire A.J. Spina ruled Tuter safe, immediately drawing Medeiros out of his dugout to contest the call.

The decision was upheld and the Cougars were victorious in game one, 3-2. Unfortunately, tempers began to flare in the parking lot postgame between the game’s officials and Buhach Colony fans. In a video obtained by The Sacramento Bee, one of the fans is seen attempting to hit an umpire, leading to a brief physical altercation.

Following the incident, the CIF SJS initially ruled that Del Campo had to forfeit game one and the two remaining games would be played at neutral sites, rather than at Buhach Colony for game two and back in Fair Oaks for a potential third game. The CIF SJS made this ruling due to the Cougars having an “extra” batting practice session during school hours, as most of the team has physical education as their last class of the day. However, Dawidczik said he offered Medeiros and his team the same opportunity, therefore it was not an unfair advantage.

Following peaceful protests and appeals from the Del Campo community, the initial decision was overruled by the CIF. Subsequently, the Cougars' game one win was restored, and the remaining two games were set to be played at the team’s home ballparks. The Thunder stormed back in game two, winning decisively 8-0 behind a no-hitter from senior pitcher Cooper Lanz.

It all came down to game three on Friday, May 20 with a spot in the section title game on the line. Del Campo opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the third inning and then added on one more in the fourth to get out to a 3-0 lead. Buhach Colony hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning, but their comeback attempt fell just short. Del Campo held on for the 3-2 win to advance to the CIF SJS D3 Baseball Championship game.

RELATED: Del Campo sweeps Rio Americano, eyes Capital Athletic League title

The Cougars took on No. 1 Vanden (29-5, 13-2 Monticello Empire) of Fairfield on Wednesday, May 25 at Sac City in the section title game. The Vikings, who were attempting to complete the rare 3-peat by winning section titles in football, basketball and baseball all the same year, took a 2-0 lead after the first inning. Senior designated hitter Jake Tranchina blasted a two-run bomb to right field to give his team the early lead.

“We didn’t make the pitch we wanted to, I’ll tell you that much,” Dawidczik said. “But we turned the page and just made sure that we didn’t give up any more runs.”

Wednesday’s game shaped up to be a pitcher’s duel between Del Campo senior Hayden Hughes and Vanden senior Erick Diez. Each team had runners in scoring position in the next two innings but failed to bring the runners home. In the fourth inning, the Cougars got on the scoreboard.

With two outs, Del Campo got consecutive hits from seniors, catcher Logan McCord and third baseman Thomas Martinez. McCord scored on the double hit by Martinez. Junior infielder Robbie Perry tied the game with a single over Vanden third baseman Tyler James’ glove into left field, to score pinch runner, junior outfielder Tyler Walton.

Things appeared to be extremely grim for Del Campo in the bottom of the seventh inning as the first two Vanden hitters reached base on an error and a fielder’s choice, respectively, leading to Hughes being pulled from the game. With their season on the line, Dawidczik called upon senior and Sacramento State commit Jordan Jacobson to pitch and attempt to keep the game knotted at two.

“Jordan has been our guy for four years. He’s played in a section title game in 2019 so he knows what it takes to get the ball in certain tough situations,” Dawidczik said. “We just wanted to make sure that if we were going to lose, we were going to lose knowing that we had our next best guy out on the mound.”

Jacobson recorded the first out on a fielder’s choice, getting the lead runner at third base. The next batter popped out. The third and final out came on an emphatic punchout, as Jacobson got James to strike out swinging, leading to the large crowd of Del Campo fans erupting with excitement as the game headed to extra innings. The Vikings were 90 feet from victory, as they left runners stranded on second and third base.

“Honestly, my mind was blank,” Jacobson said. “I had so much adrenaline going through my body. I was just so pumped up I literally had no thoughts in my head. The only thing I was thinking of is just find my spot and throw it as hard as I can. I had no doubt within myself. I had full confidence within myself and my defense.”

The “Cardiac” Cougars didn’t take long to score in the top of the eighth. After one out, McCord singled to left field and nearly advanced to second base after a Vanden error. In the next at bat, Martinez singled to right field as McCord advanced into scoring position. The Vikings attempted to throw McCord out at third, but the ball went out of play, allowing the runners to advance one base.

Senior outfielder Surreal Haro stepped up to the plate next and hit a double down the left field line to score the pinch runner Tuter and give his team an insurance run with a 4-2 lead.

“I had a lot of adrenaline going, I had to slow it down, so I did our little thing we do and just take a deep breath and slow it down,” Haro said. “I knew they were throwing me outside every time I went up so that’s what I had (with) my approach. They threw me an outside fastball (and I) drove it down the line to score that extra run.”

Martinez came on to pitch for Jacobson in the bottom half of the inning to close the game, and that’s exactly what he did. In the biggest game of the season, Dawidczik relied on three seniors to make or break it on the mound. It’s safe to say they made it.

Hughes pitched 6+ innings and allowed five hits, two earned runs, one walk and one stolen base with five strikeouts on 94 pitches. Jacobson earned the win by tossing one inning and allowing one walk with one strikeout. Martinez earned the save by allowing one hit in one inning pitched.

Del Campo was led to the win offensively by its seniors as well. Martinez and McCord were each perfect at the plate, reaching base in all four appearances. Martinez recorded three hits (one double), one run scored, one RBI and one walk. McCord tallied two hits and two runs.

Following all the adversity the team has faced this season, on and off the field, the Cougars were able to rejoice and rush the field. For the first time since 2018 and the second time under Dawidczik, Del Campo is the CIF SJS D3 Champions.

“Me and the other seniors, we’ve been talking about this day since freshman year,” Jacobson said. “For this to finally happen, it’s just so surreal. (It) just puts a cherry on top to my high school career going into Sac State so that’s huge. Our season, we’re 29-5, we had a great season. We battled every game and we competed.”

For the fifth time in school history, the Cougars are section champions along with the teams from 1985, 1995, 2013 and 2018. The icing on the cake is that with the win, Del Campo was able to avenge it’s 9-8 loss to Vanden on March 8 in the third game of the season, which was the Cougars’ first loss. Del Campo has also won 16 of its last 17 games and gone 25-2 since beginning the season 4-3 overall.

“I’ve been talking about this since eighth grade when they won it last,” Haro said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I came to this school, so it’s exciting.”

UPDATE:

It was announced on Monday by the CIF that the Cougars will be moving up to Division I for the NorCal Baseball Championship. Del Campo is the No. 8 seed and will play at five-time North Coast Section Champion De La Salle, who is the No. 1 seed. The Cougars play the Spartans in Concord on Tuesday at 4 P.M.