Coast Union baseball team falls in first round of playoffs. What’s in store for next season?
After winning nine out of its previous 10 games, and locking up the Coast Valley League title 6-0, the Broncos baseball team hosted a first-round playoff team it couldn’t beat.
Pacifica Christian High School Orange County drove up from Newport Beach to play Coast Union High School in Cambria on Thursday.
The Tritons then doused Coast’s dreams of moving on in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Division 7 playoffs.
Tritons freshman pitcher John Coopman scattered five hits and struck out nine Broncos. He did not walk a batter and was backed by solid defense.
The Broncos were bedeviled by Pacificia Christian’s base running. The Tritons stole 11 bases.
Caiden Kennedy led the Broncos with a single and a double and scored Coast’s lone run. Kennedy also made some sparkling defensive plays at shortstop. Robert Saunders, Jovan Merlos and Geo Garcia each chipped in with a hit.
Luke Smith pitched the first two innings and fanned two. Saunders handled mound chores for five innings, striking out five, and Merlos handled the seventh inning, with one strikeout.
The final score was Tritons 4, Broncos 1.
Broncos lose to Fresno Christian in pre-playoffs game
Ahead of the CIF playoffs, the Broncos played host to the Fresno Christian Eagles on April 29in a non-conference game.
Coast Union had already wrapped up the Coast Valley League championship and seemed a little flat in the field and at the bat.
The Eagles jumped out to a 9-2 lead, which they held until the sixth inning when the Broncos — thanks to Eagles’ errors, walks and some timely hits — rallied for six runs.
Saunders had a pair of singles, while Merlos and Dane Vols each had hits.
The Broncos ended the 2023 baseball season with a respectable 11-4 record.
What’s in store next season?
Looking forward to the 2024 baseball season, Coast Union head coach Brian Machado will lose three of his best players — Kennedy, Saunders and Smith — to graduation.
He has two juniors, five sophomores, and three freshmen to work with next season.
