Freshman Giants Defeat Cardinal Newman

3/27: The freshman Giants improved to 6-0 with an impressive 10-4 road victory over Cardinal Newman.

After being forced to use more arms than planned the day before, the Giants needed starting pitcher Jake Zesiger to provide a quality start. Zesiger did that and much more, throwing 5 and 2/3 innings and nearly 100 pitches while limiting Cardinal Newman to just two earned runs.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the top of the third, Sam McIntosh led off with a single to center. After advancing to second and third on wild pitches, Bodie Jehling reached on an error by Cardinal Newman’s first baseman, allowing McIntosh to score. Charlie Ginsburg followed with a single to right, with Jehling reaching third. Ben Cohen then drove them both home with a long double to left, but was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play. After Ethan Crawford reached on an error and took second on a wild pitch, Tommy Quanstrom singled to left to plate Crawford for the final run of the inning and the Giants lead stood at 4-1.

After Cardinal Newman picked up two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut Redwood’s lead to 4-3, the Giants added two runs in the top of the fifth, with Crawford hitting an RBI groundout to score Ginsburg and Quanstrom doubling in Cohen. In the top of the sixth, Thomas Johnson started a two out rally with a single and ultimately came home on a balk. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Giants were up 7-3. Jack Watson relieved Zesiger on the mound with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and nailed down the final out of the inning with a strikeout.

The Giants opened things up further in the top of the seventh. After a one out single by Mikey Bender, Dillon Jensen cranked a double down the left field line to bring Bender home. Sam Rice followed with a double down the left field line of his own to score Jensen. Rice then came home on a Johnson grounder and the game stood at 10-3 Giants heading into Cardinal Newman’s last at-bat.

Cardinal Newman scored once in the seventh, but Jensen came in to shut the door, getting a fly out and a strikeout to end it.

Next game for the frosh is against Tamalpais at Endriss Field on Wednesday at 4:30.