Needing to beat Vanden twice on Monday to reach the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship game, Benicia High’s baseball team got half way there but ultimately had their season come to an end at American River College.

The Panthers – the defending SJS D-II champions – beat their arch-rivals 8-5 in Monday’s first game but fell short in a 4-2 loss to the Vikings in the nightcap. Vanden (22-8), which beat Benicia in 5-of-6 meetings this season, advances to the championship game on Memorial Day at Sacramento City College against either Roseville or Oakmont. The Vikings haven’t won a SJS baseball title since 2006.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster for sure,” Benicia manager Jim Bowles said of Monday’s playoff doubleheader against the Solano County Athletic Conference champions. “It was gut-wrenching.”

Benicia (19-12) allowed two unearned runs in the top first inning of Monday’s opener but answered right back with a two-out rally in the bottom half. Isiah Saguar and Jason Toumbs each singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a two-run single by Taylor Greene.

The Panthers scored four more times an inning later for a 6-2 lead. Alex Osterholt led off with a single and David King was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt by Riley Pitkin, Caleb Van Blake walked to load the bases and Saguar came through with a clutch two-out, two-run single. Toumbs walked to reload the bases, Greene was hit by a pitch to force home a run and Xian Covington-Hunt walked to bring home another run.

King doubled and scored on an error in the third inning, and back-to-back doubles by Covington-Hunt and Osterholt in the fourth gave Benicia a commanding 8-2 lead.

Greene pitched a complete game for the Panthers, scattering seven hits, allowing only one earned run and striking out eight to earn the win.

Vanden struck first in the decisive nightcap when Hadari Wadley reached second on a Benicia error in the third inning and scored on a single by Eno Evans. Alejandro Lara led off the fourth with a single and scored on a double by Petey Torres. After a two-out walk to Andrew Gauldin, Torres scored from third on a double steal and Gauldin scored on a RBI single by Wadley to make it 4-0.

Benicia had its chances to get on the scoreboard but Vanden pitcher Rylan Haney kept working his way out of trouble. Osterholt had a one-out double in the second inning but got stranded, and Payne led off the third inning with a single but was stranded. Maurice Calhoun led off the sixth with a single and Greene added a one-out single, but a fly out and a strikeout ended that threat.

“We scored a lot of runs in the playoffs but we just couldn’t get that key hit in this game,” Bowles said. “We were facing their No. 1 pitcher who has been tough on us his whole career and he did a good job of pitching Vanden into the championship.”

Benicia finally broke through in the top of the seventh. Singles by Covington-Hunt, King and Calhoun loaded the bases for Van Blake, who ripped a two-run single to make it 4-2 and put the tying run on base. Haney, however, struck out the final hitter to send the Vikings to the title game.

Haney scattered eight hits and struck out five in the complete-game effort. Cole Eigenhuis pitched a complete game for the Panthers and struck out eight.

Though Benicia failed in its attempt to repeat as Section champions, Bowles was pleased with everything the Panthers accomplished this season. A team featuring only one returning playoff starter that looked iffy to make the postseason a month ago ended up going all the way to Game 3 of the semifinals – one win short of the championship game.

“I’ve never been prouder of a team than I am of this team,” Bowles said. “They faced more adversity than any team I’ve coached and they faced it with their heads up and they refused to have a mediocre season. They played their hearts out and I consider this a very successful season.

“We have a majority of our guys back next year and a lot of guys got a lot of playoff experience. We’ll definitely build on that next year.”

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