Del Oro stuns Whitney with 7-run seventh

Things were looking bleak for the Del Oro baseball team as the sun sank low Tuesday afternoon. The Golden Eagles trailed 5-0, had mustered only two hits and were down to their final out. Nico Busalacchi kept Del Oro alive with a ground-ball single through the infield. At the time, it seemed like a small moral victory, but little did he know it would be the start to an improbable comeback. Del Oro strung together hits and walks and scored on an RBI walk by Jayden Santiago. San Diego State commit Carson Moore then cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple. An intentional walk and consecutive hit batters tied the score before two wild pitches brought runs home to cap a seven-run inning. Whitney scored once in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run on third base, but Del Oro hung on to steal a 7-6 victory in the Sierra Foothill League opener. "I was going no matter what," said Del Oro's Luke Acosta, who scurried home for the go-ahead run. "I was looking for that passed ball and it just bounced off the wall nicely that I got in there for the win." Acosta said Del Oro never doubted it could rally for the win, but it was Moore's triple that really opened the floodgates. "I was looking for something to drive in the middle and I got one that I liked and ended up smoking it down the line. That just got the boys going," said Moore. "I thought I was gonna stop at two but then I saw my coach waving his arm for me to come to third." Moore was in a 1-for-13 slump entering the game but after a 2-for-4 day, Del Oro coach Jordan Whitmore believes the tide is turning for his shortstop. "I'm super proud of Carson," Whitmore said. "He's been trying to find his way and when I saw him get a knock early on, it lit up our dugout a little bit. I had the feeling if we just got him up again he would keep it going." Moore said he was not surprised by the comeback following come-from-behind wins over West Park, Lincoln and Vanden already this season. "We just have a good energy level and we just never give up," Moore said. "We never felt like we had already lost this game. We always find ways to bounce back." Whitney rode a dominant start from Corden Pettey through five innings. The Cal Poly commit powered through the Del Oro batting order, striking out 10 and allowing one hit while walking two. The Wildcats scored a run in each of the first five innings to lead 5-0. Mason Harris collected three hits while Brady Estes had two. Bryce Farris had two RBIs. Relievers Beckett Crow and Broc McReynolds kept Del Oro in the game. Crow entered in the fourth inning and earned the win. McReynolds shifted from his usual role as a starter and closed in the seventh to earn his first save. Whitmore had high praise for his pitching staff, saying, "We got a couple guys down sick. We got a bum elbow. We got a lot going on so for two of our new guys to come in and limit the damage was huge." Del Oro (10-1) defeated Whitney (3-5) again 2-1 on Wednesday before completing the sweep with a 5-0 victory Thursday in Loomis.