Coachella Valley's baseball season ends. Here's what happened against Ganesha

What a difference a week can make in the CIF-SS baseball playoffs.

Last Tuesday the Coachella Valley baseball team won its Division 7 wild-card game against Desert Chapel 17-0. This Tuesday the Arabs faced No. 1 Ganesha and got beat 17-0.

The 34-run switcheroo does nothing to dampen the nice playoff season the Arabs have had. With that wild-card win followed by an impressive 13-4 win in their first-round game, Coachella Valley advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the 1980s.

The deeper you advance in the postseason, the more likely you are to run into a team like Ganesha. The undefeated Pomona-based team is loaded. Multiple players had committed to play at the college level, including a sophomore catcher who has committed to USC.

Coachella Valley baseball speeds past Desert Chapel for playoff win

"It's a different experience, we gave them all we had," Coachella Valley senior Rudy Borjas said. "Not the outcome we wanted, but a game like this shows us what real competition looks like. Gives us that upper-level look and shows us what it takes to be the best."

The game: Arabs weren't at their best

While it's true the Arabs were overmatched in this one, it's also true to say they didn't play their best game. Multiple miscues, including allowing the first two batters of the game for Ganesha to reach base via errors, set the tone for the game. Ganesha is a good enough team on its own, you don't need to give them extra baserunners.

Sophomore catcher Isaiah Ibarra, the aforementioned USC commit, got the offense rolling with an RBI single in the first, part of a three-run opening frame for the Giants. He was just getting started.

In the second inning, after a two-out, two-run single by Victor Garcia, Ibarra came up again and hit a long fly ball to right field. It was tailing away from the Arabs outfielder who got his glove on it, but couldn't hold on. It was either an RBI triple (or a three-base error) but either way, it was part of a four-run second inning. The third inning saw the visitors score three more runs. This time a two-run double by Adrian Lopez did the damage.

Ibarra led off the fourth inning with a long home run to left field into the tall bushes that line the Coachella Valley High School outfield fence. Before the inning was over, Lopez had another two-run double as part of a five-run frame and after four innings it was 15-0 Ganesha. They scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make the final score 17-0. There is no mercy rule in postseason games.

Starting pitcher Gavin Moran pitched three perfect innings for Ganesha, and he was followed by Brandon Gutierrez and Jorge Solares who pitched two shutout innings each.

All that added together equaled a decisive conclusion to the Arabs' season.

"I have mixed emotions. It's hard. I'm going to miss high school baseball, but all good things must come to an end," said Borjas, who plans to play baseball at COD next year. "Making it to the second round was a big moment for us. Really my emotions are just lots of joy."

The stars from Ganesha, Coachella Valley

Isaiah Ibarra, Ganesha: The sophomore finished with four hits, including the triple and homer, four RBIs, and two runs scored.

Adrian Lopez, Ganesha: Lopez had three hits, two doubles, four runs scored and four RBIs.

Bryce McAnich, Ganesha: The Giants' leadoff hitter was a problem all night. He reached base five times, twice by error, once via walk, once via being hit by a pitch and once by single.

Gabriel Smith, Ganesha: Smith gave his team great production from the nine-hole in the lineup. He had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI.

Andruw Hernandez, Coachella Valley: The freshman pitcher was brought in to finish the game and pitched well against the potent Ganesha lineup. He pitched 3.1 innings and only allowed two runs. He had three strikeouts.

Alfredo Avalos and Rudy Borjas, Coachella Valley: Avalos is a freshman and Borjas is a senior and they combined for back-to-back clean singles in the fourth inning. Those were the only two hits for Coachella Valley.

The takeaway: Mismatch

This was a good old-fashioned mismatch. It happens sometimes, particularly in Division 7 where there can be a huge variation between teams. It's a pretty safe bet Ganesha won't be in Division 7 next year. In fact, the Arabs have plenty of company as the Giants actually won by more than 17 runs on five occasions during the season.

The Arabs, meanwhile, got a valuable look at the high level it will take to advance further in the postseason in the future. They kept fighting and playing hard all night, still managing smiles in the late innings. In a bit of gallows humor, as the Arabs' leadoff batter strode to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, someone shouted "We just need 18 runs, c'mon now. We got this!"

What's next: Ganesha to host Fontana

Ganesha (14-0) moves on to the Division 7 quarterfinals and will host Fontana, the No. 8 seed in the division. The Arabs finish their season with a 10-15 record and a rare trip to the second round.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: CIF-SS baseball: Top seed Ganesha rolls to win over Coachella Valley