29 Apr Salesian Senior Night Soured by First Loss to Hercules High in Eight Years

The Salesian Pride went through unfamiliar postgame feelings after an unlikely loss at home.

Story and photos by Joe Porrello

Multiple streaks ended for Salesian College Preparatory High on April 24, as the Pride lost their senior night bout with Hercules High 6-1 in Richmond. It was the Pride’s first time allowing a run in over a month, their only loss in the previous 10 games, their first defeat in a Tri-County-Stone League matchup in over two years, and their lone loss to the Titans in the last eight seasons.

“This shouldn’t sit right with any of the seniors or anybody on the team,” said Pride senior pitcher Chris Olsen.

With a chance to lock up first place in the regular season TCSL standings, Salesian instead left the door open for Hercules High to take the top spot. After this game, the Pride sat at 10-1 in league play; the Titans, 9-1.

“They haven’t felt (a loss) in a while, so I hope it sinks in,” said first-year Pride head coach Joe Ruiz. “I was just happy the guys fought all seven innings and never let it get out of hand.”

All but one player reached base safely for Hercules High, which accumulated 10 hits and seemed to come out determined after breaking their own winning streak of seven games in their previous matchup two days prior.

Back-to-back first inning doubles to deep centerfield gave the Titans their first run. Immediately followed by back-to-back singles and a sacrifice fly, the score became 3-0 before the Pride could even take a hack.

In the top of the second, Salesian senior right fielder Angel Ramirez ended the inning by making an unlikely catch — diving forward and fully extending on a quickly falling ball. On offense, he added a single, a stolen base, and his team’s only run.

Hercules junior starting pitcher Wynston Bishop tossed six frames, allowed three hits, three walks, no earned runs, and accumulated six strikeouts.

He contributed on offense as well.

With a man on, Bishop whacked his first home run of the year  — only the Titans’ second all season — over the right field fence in the third to make the score 5-0. 

He finished with four RBIs, two singles, two runs, and his team’s only stolen base of the game to accompany his long ball.

“We were getting barrels today,” said Salesian senior first baseman De’Undrae Perteete. “It was just going straight to them and Hercules came out and had a crazy first three innings.”

The Pride would finally get a baserunner when Perteete walked in the third inning, and tallied their first hit in the fourth off the bat of freshman second baseman Salvador Guerra. Neither would produce runs.

Giving up a single and a walk to begin his relief appearance in the fourth, Salesian senior pitcher Amani Johnson then recorded nine straight outs. He finished with four innings and one earned run.

The only score of the game for the Pride came in the fifth when three straight Hercules High misthrows resulted in an unearned run. 

Still down 5-1 in the following inning, Salesian got their first two batters on base and put pressure on the Titans. Bishop retaliated by fanning the next three he faced to get out of the jam.

Three Hercules High singles in the final frame widened the margin to five runs, and the Pride were unable to make it any closer.

It was just the Pride’s second time finishing a game with under two runs this season; they scored over seven runs in five of their previous six games. Last month, Salesian scored 63 combined runs in only three games.

A big part of Salesian High’s offense comes from Olsen, along with sophomores Joe Tarin and Evan Vela. All holding a batting average over .472 coming in, they went a combined 1-11 at the plate in this game. On defense, Vela and Olsen have not committed an error all season.

Each team similarly struggled out of the gate before righting the ship; both held four-game losing streaks in the beginning of their respective campaigns.

Earlier this season, the Pride beat Hercules High 8-4 to improve to 17-1 against the Titans over the last decade. Salesian won 14 straight in the head-to-head matchup before this loss.

Getting a chance to remedy their senior night defeat, the Pride played one last regular season game on their home field April 25, taking down Bethel High 4-1. Originally scheduled to be played in Vallejo, the game was moved to Richmond due to poor field conditions that have plagued the Jaguars for numerous seasons and forced them to sometimes practice on concrete.

Salesian concluded their regular season on April 26, again opposing the Titans for senior night at Hercules High, the game having large implications on the winner of the TCSL regular season.

“We’re just going to come back with our heads high, look to bounce back, and get a little revenge,” said Perteete after the April 24 loss. “They came out here and played a heck of a game, so we have to go to their place and return the favor.”

Last year, the Pride took home first place, while the Titans finished second. Hercules had last finished the regular season No. 1 in league play in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014.

That changed Friday, as the Titans shut out Salesian 10-0 to edge them by a half game in the standings heading into the playoffs.

As for the Pride, with more underclassmen than upperclassmen and their fourth head coach in four seasons, they still managed a top two finish in the TCSL for a third straight year.