Matt Brown pitched a one-hit shutout and Benicia High’s varsity baseball team completed a season sweep of the Bethel Jaguars with a tough 2-0 victory last Thursday in Benicia.
Bethel’s Roberto Diaz led off the game with a single to left, but that was the only hit Brown would allow the rest of the day as the senior scattered four walks and three hit batters en route to his third shutout of the season.
Brown (4-0, 0.48 ERA) also pitched a one-hit shutout against Bethel on March 13, but that game went only five innings. He came two outs away from throwing a no-hitter against American Canyon on March 27 and has allowed only eight hits in 29 innings while striking out 34.
A couple of key two-out hits delivered Benicia’s only two runs. Tanner Marchant led off the bottom of the third inning with a bloop single and Caleb Van Blake came through with a two-out RBI double to right for a 1-0 lead. The Panthers added an insurance run in the fourth when Fred Williams led off with a single, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Jason Ramirez.
Bethel (1-8, 1-5 SCAC) threatened in the top of the fourth with two aboard and no one out. After a sacrifice bunt moved the tying run into scoring position, Brown struck out Frankie Fox swinging and got Clayton Zink to line out to center for the final out.
Bethel had a runner on in every inning except the third, but the Panthers (12-2, 7-0 SCAC) turned double plays in the first and sixth innings and never made an error. Bethel committed three errors.
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