Dominant pitching performances, outstanding defensive play and a murderer’s row of bats carried the Benicia Oldtimers to the Northern California championship trophy last weekend at Fitzgerald Field.
THE BENICIA OLDTIMERS went a perfect 5-0 in the Dutch Van Wey Classic, outscoring their opponents 22-2 over the final two games to win the club’s first Northern California championship since 2010.
Brandon Fade pitched a complete-game shutout in Saturday’s semifinals against two-time defending champion Lodi, and Ricky Silva tossed a complete game against Vallejo in Sunday’s Dutch Van Wey Classic championship game to give Benicia its first NorCal title in four years.
Benicia (22-6 overall) went 5-0 during the Dutch Van Wey Classic and finished the season on a 10-game winning streak.
“About mid-summer we just started clicking and we had some great pitching performances,” noted Benicia manager Rick Killiough. “We were lights out with pitching, defense and hitting. We rolled right through (the playoffs) and that’s pretty rare.”
“We ended up on a hot streak where everybody was picking up each other,” added infielder Marko Santos. “We picked up some new guys who mixed in great with the older guys and everyone came through. It was just a fun team to play for.”
One of those newcomers was Jarrod Sproul, who had six hits over the weekend and received the game ball after Benicia wrapped up the title.
“We have a lot of good ball players and our pitching was great,” Sproul said. “We got hot at the right time.”
“He’s a double-hitting machine,” Killough said of Sproul. “He’s one of the best offensive players I’ve seen in quite a while.”
Fade dominated Lodi in the semifinal, scattering five hits with three strikeouts as Benicia won 7-0. Benicia turned three double plays in the game and Sproul ripped a two-run homer. Kurt Mendonza added a three-run homer to seal the win.
The ageless Silva allowed two runs on seven hits with two strikeouts in a 15-2 rout of Vallejo in Sunday’s championship game. Santos, Sproul and Mendonza each had three hits in the game. Brian Rowles and Rich Reza each added two hits.
Other key contributors for Benicia over the weekend included Darren Wheat, Bruce Zimmer and Carl Hancock.
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