THE PANTHERS mob teammate Justin Badger at home plate after he scored the winning run against American Canyon.

Benicia High’s varsity baseball team closed out the regular season Wednesday with its most dramatic victory of the season, scoring twice with two outs in the bottom of the seventh on Senior Day to shock visiting American Canyon, 6-5.

Senior David King’s two-strike single to center scored Alex Osterholt with the tying run, and Justin Badger raced home with the winning run when the incoming throw got away from American Canyon’s third baseman.

“It’s pretty special because I had been struggling the past few games,” King said. “I got into a quick two-strike count but I didn’t give up. I knew I had one more strike so I just focused on making good contact and hoped something good would happen.”

The Panthers, who won the season series with the Wolves, earned second place in the Solano County Athletic Conference and will try to carry that momentum into next week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

“We knew we had our back against the wall to get second place,” said Benicia manager Jim Bowles. “We haven’t done anything easy, but this team plays hard from start to finish and they’ve never given up. They’ve faced adversity throughout the year and they’ve responded to it time and time again.”

The Panthers (17-10, 10-5 SCAC) carried a three-run lead into the top of the seventh when American Canyon (12-12, 9-6 SCAC) suddenly stole the show. A one-out error allowed Joey Chavarria to reach second and Andre Jose followed with a single. A walk to Trey DuBois loaded the bases and chased Benicia starting pitcher Taylor Greene, who had struck out seven and allowed only one run through 6 1/3 innings.

American Canyon’s Jorge Chenart greeted reliever Caleb Van Blake with a three-run double to center that tied the game at 4-4. After a strikeout, senior Jared Denning singled to center, scoring Chenart with the go-ahead run. Nate Gutierrez followed with a single, but Denning tripped going around second base and was tagged out to end the inning.

Benicia caught a break in the bottom of the seventh when a bad hop allowed Jason Toumbs to beat out a ground ball to start the inning. Osterholt walked with one out and Badger hit into a fielder’s choice, setting up King for his two-out dramatics.

“I knew we wouldn’t go down without a fight,” said Van Blake, who homered earlier in the day. “That last play gives us some momentum going into the playoffs. It feels good.”

“This is a great emotional boost for us going into the playoffs,” Bowles said.

“This team is resilient,” King added. “We don’t let adversity get to us.”

Van Blake’s solo homer in the third gave Benicia a 1-0 lead. American Canyon tied it in the top of the fourth, only to have Van Blake put Benicia back in front with an RBI single in the fifth. The Panthers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a double by Xian Covington-Hunt, a bunt single by Michael Cosmides and a sacrifice fly by Jack Bowles.

American Canyon loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth but failed to score.

The Panthers will learn their SJS playoff seeding this weekend.

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