BENICIA PITCHER Anthony Lopez (23) gets congratulated by teammates after his three-hitter sent the Panthers to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship game.

Benicia High’s baseball team beat No. 2 seed Del Campo on Monday, 6-2, at American River College to sweep a best-of-3 playoff series and vault the No. 3 seeded Panthers to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship game on Memorial Day at Sacramento City College.

It’s the seventh championship game appearance in the past nine years for Benicia, which won the SJS title in 2014 and 2011. Monday’s win was the seventh in a row for the Panthers (18-12), who won only three of their first 11 games to start the season.

“We’re playing well right now in every phase of the game,” said Benicia manager Jim Bowles. “It’s almost surreal how different we are from the beginning of the year. We faced a lot of adversity early and it seems to have bonded our team together.”

Del Campo (20-10), which beat Benicia in the 2013 championship game, is a team that draws a lot of walks, steals a lot of bases and gets hit by a lot of pitches. Benicia held the Cougars in check in all three categories, allowing only one walk, one hit batter and no steals in 14 innings of a two-game sweep.

“We had a game plan heading into the Del Campo series and the kids executed it to a tee,” Bowles said. “We limited their number of base runners, defended their small ball and kept their offense in check.”

Senior Anthony Lopez, who had exactly one varsity pitching start under his belt and no playoff experience on the mound, tossed a three-hitter Monday in a complete game effort. Lopez out-dueled Del Campo ace Ben Purcell, who also pitched a complete game but allowed eight hits and six runs.

“Every time we’ve handed him the ball he’s gone out there and competed,” Bowles said of Lopez. “He did an amazing job considering he had no playoff experience. You couldn’t ask for a better performance.”

Junior Jared Jackson also shined in his playoff debut. He doubled home Maurice Calhoun in the fourth inning to give Benicia a 3-1 lead, then manufactured a run all by himself in the sixth inning. Jackson singled, stole second, went to third when the catcher’s throw sailed into center field and scored when the incoming throw to third went into the dugout.

“His hustle after a simple single turned into a run,” Bowles said.

Calhoun gave Benicia an early 2-0 lead when he doubled home Makoa Copp and later scored on a attempted double steal in the first inning. Del Campo pulled to within 2-1 in the second inning and 3-2 in the sixth, but a Steve Urias RBI single and a Josiah Peterson run on a wild pitch put the Cougars away for good.

“You can see the intensity level in our hitters and a lot of guys are doing the job,” Bowles said.

Benicia awaits the winner of a semifinal series between No. 1 seed Bella Vista and No. 5 seed Vanden. Bella Vista has never won a Sac-Joaquin Section championship. Vanden beat Benicia in last year’s title game.

“We’ve had battles with both of them over the years,” Bowles said. “We’ll have our work cut out for us but we’re happy that we’re there and our kids are confident.”

The Panthers plan on starting ace pitcher Cole Eigenhuis in the championship game. The junior is 7-1 with a 1.36 earned-run average and has 68 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched.

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