Pilots 2012 Preview

Coming off of a successful 2011 season that saw the departure of eight seniors, the young Pilots will report to their first practice of the 2012 season on Monday, February 6, at the Navy Base.  It is an exciting time in the program as this year nearly 30 players are expected to try out—the most SJND baseball has seen in several years.  The 2012 Pilots will look to build upon the success that the program has achieved over the past few years.  Each team will play a full BSAL schedule, a three game spring tournament and a healthy mix of non-league opponents for a total of 24 games.  The Pilots will continue to play their home games at College of Alameda and practice at the Navy Base.

The varsity team will once again be led by Mark Castillo who enters his third year at the helm of the Pilots.  Josh West will return for his third year as the pitching coach, while Chuck Moseley will return for his fifth season as the hitting coach.  Joseph Republicano, who enters his third year in the program, will move up and join the varsity staff as assistant head coach, while also serving as assistant head coach to the junior varsity squad.  Scott Fowler will take over the junior varsity team as the head coach as he enters his third year in the program.

The coaching staff will see some changes, though, as the program would like to welcome Cody Nelson, who enters his first season as a varsity assistant coach, and Victor Republicano (SJND ’09), who returns to SJND as the junior varsity pitching coach.  These hires come at the same time the Pilots say ‘good bye’ to Coach Dale Legaspi, who returned to his native southern California.  The Pilots would like to thank Coach Legaspi for the work he put into the program last season, which included the creation of this site and connecting SJND Baseball to the world of social media.  Although we will miss him, we are sure he will continue to coach (and break clipboards) down in LA.  We wish both him and his clipboards the best of luck going forward.

Although this year’s varsity team is considerably younger, as a number of sophomores make the move to varsity, the Pilots are expecting big contributions from their four returning seniors.  The varsity squad will kick off the 2012 campaign with a road game against Pittsburg on 2/25, followed by its 2012 home opener on 2/29 against San Leandro.  League play begins on 3/2 as the Pilots play host to visiting John Swett.  Other notable dates on the varsity schedule are spring break, when the team returns to the Alhambra Tournament where two years ago it spoiled the host team Alhambra’s bid to win the tournament.  Tournament play will begin with the Pilots taking on Alhambra on 4/7.  Perhaps the most notable and exciting game on the schedule, though, is on Cinco de Mayo as the Pilots will face Oakland Tech at the Oakland Coliseum.  The varsity squad will wrap up league play and the regular season on 5/11 as they host Coach Castillo’s former team, Salesian, on Senior Day, where the program will honor Alex Alvarez, Ollie Cunningham, Nikko DeGrano, and Matthew Hermann for their contributions to SJND Baseball.  BSAL Playoffs will begin the following week, with NCS Playoffs starting the week after and culminating the first day of June.

The junior varsity squad will be deeper than it has been in recent years due mostly to a healthy influx of freshman into the program.  Like the varsity team, the JV squad will kick off its 2012 campaign on the road at Pittsburg on 2/25.  The JV Pilots will also open their league schedule on the road as they visit John Swett on 3/2, followed by their home opener on 3/3 against Arroyo.  The Pilots will return to the Concord Classic during spring break, where they too played spoiler to the host team two years ago.  They will try to do it again as they open the tournament with Concord on 4/11.  The junior varsity will wrap up their season with a road date at Skyline on 5/14.

Be sure to come out and support the blue and orange this year, or if you’re logging in from afar, get all your Pilots Baseball news on this site throughout the season.  Go Pilots!

Pilots Finish Strong, Sweeping Final Regular Season Week

In the wake of a disappointing split last week, the Pilots (14-10, 10-6) bounced back strong with a couple of huge wins to close out the end of the regular season.  Wednesday’s showdown with Kennedy was tight through a few innings, but the Pilots were able to pull away by swinging the sticks.

Christopher Livingston, Sean Harding, Ollie Cunningham and Nikko DeGrano all finished with multi-hit games, and Billy Johnson chipped in with a double to key the 10-hit attack.  DeGrano also picked up the win in relief of starter Garrett Rich, who threw well but was removed to conserve pitch count.  The Pilots walked away with a 14-3 win on Senior Day.

Friday’s 9-7 road win over Salesian was a wild see-saw battle that saw multiple lead changes, extra base hits, an elastic strike zone and the Pilots closing the season with a come-from-behind W against a BSAL Catholic school rival.  Rich picked up the win with four plus innings of quality relief, and the Pilots banged out 11 hits and took advantage of numerous extra chances given by sloppy defense and pitching by host Salesian.

Johnson, Harding, Alex Alvarez and Justin Oilar all finished with two hits each, and the Pilots simply played more mistake-free baseball than the opponent.

The focus now shifts fully to playoffs, as the Pilots have clinched the four slot in the BSAL and will face 1-seed Albany on the road on Wednesday.  Gametime is TBD.  Winner of that game will get the winner of Encinal-St. Mary’s on Friday.  A strong showing equates to a higher ranking in NCS.  Hope to see you at the park!

Pilots Come Out Flat, Get Dominated at St. Pat’s

From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, the Pilots (9-5, 7-4) actually struck first with a run in the top of the first, but that was all they would get, as they surrendered nine unanswered runs in a road loss to St. Patrick/St. Vincent.

Starter Nick Hassel battled uncharacteristic control issues, hitting five batters and walking four in taking the loss.  The offense didn’t fare much better, producing only two hits–a single by Billy Johnson to lead off the game, and a two-strike drag bunt from Ollie Cunningham.  Johnson came around to score, but that would be all the Pilots would get.

The blue and orange returns to action Monday in the Windemuth Easter Tournament, with a 1:30 road game at Downey High School in Modesto.

Bonus Baseball as Pilots Prevail Against St. Mary’s

After clawing their way back from a 4-2 deficit in the sixth and exchanging zeros with visiting St. Mary’s in the seventh, the Pilots (9-4, 7-3) pushed across the game winner with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.

Kyle Walling got the inning going with a one-out double to the gap in left center.  After an intentional walk to Billy Johnson and a single from Ollie Cunningham, the bases were loaded for the middle of the order.  St. Mary’s starter Evan Giddings then got a strikeout for the second out but was unable to retire Jon Dyer, who plated Walling by reaching on an error.

Senior Garrett Rich picked up the win, pitching three innings of perfect relief of starter Matt Hermann.  Rich threw only 23 pitches and had one strikeout.  Hermann finished the day giving up four runs (three earned) on 10 hits with two walks.  He also had two strikeouts.

The Pilots return to action Friday, as they hit the road for Vallejo to take on St. Patrick/St. Vincent.

Pilots Jump Out Early, Bury Encinal

What a difference a few weeks makes.  After taking an absolute beating in the first game of the series, the Pilots (8-4, 6-3) brought the sticks out and answered back, picking off their crosstown rival Encinal 20-6.  Every starter had at least one of the team’s 17 hits, and the blue and orange scored at least one run in every inning.

The Pilots struck first with a leadoff double from Billy Johnson and capitalized on an error and a free pass before Nikko DeGrano struck the big blow with a two-run home run to push the lead to 4-0.  Encinal answered with one in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of a leadoff walk but would get nothing else until the game was out of reach.

After going a few games without the benefit of an extra base hit, the Pilots strung them together in bunches today, as Sean Harding went 2-4 with a double and a triple, and Christopher Livingston and Ollie Cunningham both finished 3-4 with a double.  DeGrano finished the day 3-6 with three RBI, and Johnson finished 2-3 with a double. 

Starter Matt Hermann, who also had a double, quietly put together an outstanding start, scattering seven hits and three walks over six innings to pick up the win.  He finished with three earned runs allowed and two strikeouts.

The win concludes a string of seven games in two weeks, which saw the Pilots finish 6-1 but a perfect 5-0 in BSAL contests.  The team gets a bit of a breather, as the program celebrates its history with the alumni game tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. at Upper Washington Park before it returns to BSAL action with St. Mary’s and St. Pat’s next week.

Pilots Bounce Back with Win over Swett

The second half of the BSAL slate started much better than the first, as the Pilots (7-4, 5-3) rode a complete game and a 15-hit performance to a 10-1 win over visiting John Swett.

Offense was plentiful, as senior Kyle Walling and junior Matt Hermann both finished with perfect 3-3 days at the plate, while junior Ollie Cunningham drilled a pair of base hits in three plate appearances.  As nice as it was to see the bats come alive for a game, the more important development may have been on the other side.

Senior Garrett Rich went the distance on the hill, surrendering only a single earned run.  Benefiting from flawless defense, he scattered seven hits and four free passes while striking out seven to pick up his second win of the season.

The win puts the Pilots squarely in the hunt for a spot in the BSAL playoffs and sets up a big showdown with crosstown rival Encinal this Friday on the road.

Pilots Blank Salesian Behind Hermann’s No-Hitter

On a day that saw the Pilots (5-3, 4-3) put up seven runs on 11 hits from eight different hitters, the offense doesn’t even lead the story, as starter Matt Hermann was an in-between hop away from throwing a perfect game.

Needing only 73 pitches to go the distance, Hermann notched his third win of the season, finishing this gem with nine strikeouts.  He also helped himself with two of the 11 hits.

Offensively, the Pilots struck early and often, plating five in the first two innings, courtesy of six hits.  Leading the barrage was leadoff hitter Billy Johnson, who got it going in the first with a single and provided a huge 3-run home run in the second to put the blue and orange up five.  Johnson finished the day by adding a couple walks to finish 2-2.  Sean Harding also put in a 2-hit game, and Ollie Cunningham tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh with a 2-RBI single.

The Pilots finish the four-game week with an 11 a.m. Saturday showdown against Fort Bragg at the Navy Base Field.  Let’s run it to 4-0 on the week!

St. Mary’s Holds on for 3-1 Win Over Pilots

Another start by Nick Hassel and another solid performance with the decision going the wrong way.  For the first time all season, the Pilots (1-3, 0-3) played sound defense forcing St. Mary’s (2-2-1, 1-0) to earn everything they got, but again the bats fell silent, as the Panthers hung on for the 3-1 win.

SJND plated its only run in the top of the 5th, aided by a leadoff walk to Sean Harding, a pair of singles from Kyle Walling and Freddy Ramirez and a sac fly from Ollie Cunningham to the lead to 2-1.  Unfortunately, that would end up being as close as the Pilots would get, as the Panthers added an insurance run in the bottom half of the frame and threw up two zeros to end the game.

Coach Legaspi will be at the Navy Base field at 10 a.m. to throw BP to guys who want to get extra work in.  Coach Fowler will be there as well, working with some of the JV guys.