23 Apr Hercules High Varsity Baseball Gets the Win on Good Friday

The Titans’ bat boy celebrates with Hercules High senior Nathaniel Melgoza after he scores a run.

Story and photos by Joe Porrello

It was indeed a good Friday for Hercules High varsity baseball. Playing April 18 on their home field, the Titans used 11 hits and 12 stolen bases to trounce Bethel High of Vallejo 13-1.

Nine runners left on base and four pivotal errors proved to be the Jaguars demise, while selectiveness at the dish resulted in the Titans having more than twice as many walks as strikeouts and runs in all but one inning.

Without a loss in over three weeks, Hercules High has won their last five games by a combined score of 66-9. Conversely, the Jaguars have only one win in the same span, collectively losing their last seven games 87-15.

 

Bethel started the first inning with back-to-back walks before ending it on back-to-back strikeouts. Hercules High immediately followed by drawing a pair of walks themselves, then drew first blood by adding two singles and three stolen bases to go along with a costly Bethel error — making the score 2-0.

 

The first two Jaguars reached in the second as well, but the next three got out. In the third, Bethel failed to break through yet again despite having multiple baserunners once more.

Then, in their half of the third, Hercules High broke the game open. Almost out of it unscathed, the Jaguars dropped an infield pop up with two outs, eventually resulting in four unearned runs.

The Jaguars answered by getting their first batter on base for a fourth consecutive inning but yet again put up a zero on the scoreboard. With two outs and a runner on first base, junior Bethel captain Dennis Walton III crushed a ball to the left field fence before it was relayed to home plate for a tag out — sending the Titans from the dugout onto the field in celebration.

Once more taking advantage of their opponent’s miscues, Hercules High tacked on a pair of runs to make it 8-0 after another error by Bethel and a double by senior Wynston Bishop.

 

Bishop, who leads the team in six categories — including being the only Titan with a perfect fielding percentage — reached base safely in all four at-bats. He collected a single, RBI, walk, two runs, two stolen bases, and two doubles — the game’s only extra base hits.

His senior teammate David Silva Jr., sidelined for an extended period with a patella injury suffered last season, looked in peak form as he paved the way to victory on both sides of the ball.

 

Silva collected three singles and an RBI, as well as a game-high four runs and three stolen bases. Starting on the bump and earning the win, he gathered five strikeouts in four innings, allowing just three singles.

As a staff, the Titans have not surrendered an extra base hit all season. For the Jaguars, it was their sixth game without an extra base hit and eighth without an RBI.

Finally making the most of two leadoff baserunners in the fifth frame, Bethel scored their lone run via the only Hercules High error of the game — a high throw that pulled the first baseman off the bag.

 

In the following inning, Titans senior relief pitcher Jason Kao struck out the Jaguars in order. 

“I haven’t pitched in like 10 games, so it felt really good to get dialed back in on the mound,” said Kao.

 

Senior William Hobbs drove in Bishop on a sacrifice fly in the sixth for the final run of the game before it was called because of the 10-run mercy rule. Pacing the team with a .436 batting average and 22 RBIs, he finished with a single, stolen base, run, and game-high three RBIs.

At 10-8-2 overall, Hercules High has scored over 10 runs nine times, and their .337 team batting average sits well above the national average of .273. 

 

With Bethel allowing a season-high 21 stolen bases and dropping the previous matchup 14-2 in Vallejo on April 16, it was the Titans third straight win in the head-to-head battle.

Jaguars head coach J.R. Lindsey says his young team with eight underclassmen and just three seniors — which has been outscored by almost exactly double (169-85) this season — is still in its developmental stages.

 

The Titans, conversely, have more than twice the collective runs of their opponents and a roster holding eight seniors. 

That group of fourth-year players was the last to play for Gerald “Coach G” Montgomery — also known as “Mr. Hercules” —  who led the Titans baseball team for 15 years before his unexpected death in June 2022.

“We only spent one year with (Coach G), but it was very memorable,” said Hobbs. “We’ve been playing for him these last three years and we want to get even further these playoffs to honor him in our final season.”

Today, the Titans are led by his son, Louis Montgomery, who said this year’s seniors hold a special place with him because of their connection to his father.

Louis’s twin sons, Kayson and Kaylan, now play for the Hercules junior varsity team (12-3) as freshmen on the field named after their grandfather.

 

“I just love what I’m seeing right now,” said Montgomery. “It’s great to see this program where it should be.”

With an 8-1-1 record in Tri-County-Stone League play, the varsity Titans sit in second place behind 7-1 St. Patrick-St. Vincent with two games remaining in the regular season.

 

Hercules High hosts their senior night Wednesday against Vallejo High before facing the Redhawks at home Friday. With one more win, they will secure a fourth straight overall winning season.

Battling next with John Swett High on Wednesday, the Jaguars (5-11) also conclude their season with back-to-back home and away games versus Vallejo High. At 3-4 in TSCL play with four such games remaining, Bethel looks for its sixth winning league record in seven years.

“I promise you this, we’re going to upset someone’s season before it’s over, and they’re going to be pissed at Bethel for the rest of the year,” said Lindsey.