CONCORD — De La Salle did it again.
The Spartans have now won three of the first four CIF NorCal Division I championships after a scintillating 5-4 walk-off win over Serra on Saturday. And just as they did in 2022 and 2023, De La Salle had to mount a stunning seventh-inning comeback.
The Spartans entered the bottom of the seventh down 4-2 to the Padres. With one out, Ethan Sullivan started the rally with a single to center.
Then Tyler Spangler had the hit that really got De La Salle to believe, lacing an opposite-field double down the left field line that brought in Sullivan.
Antonio Castro followed with a double down the right-field line, scoring Spangler to tie the game. Then after an intentional walk and a groundout, Niko Baumgartner legged out a high-chopping, infield single to shortstop, scoring Castro and clinching the Spartans’ third NorCal crown.
“I knew I got speed, so I saw the high chopper,” Baumgartner said. “I just knew I was there. I had a great feeling. I was like, it’s a little too high. I trusted myself and got down the line.”
De La Salle is making a habit of legendary comebacks in the NorCal title game. In 2022, the Spartans scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off St. Francis.
In 2023, De La Salle was down 8-5 to Valley Christian but scored six times in the top of the seventh to win 11-8.
So this little two-run comeback was old hat.
“We got back to our plan in the seventh of going the other way,” Spartans coach David Jeans said. “We kind of lost that in the middle of the game. But we always preach, ‘As long as there’s outs left, the game’s not over.’”
Initially, De La Salle (29-4) was the aggressor, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Serra (28-7) mounted its comeback starting in the third inning, as Davis Minton hit a two-out, two-run double to tie the game.
The Padres took the lead in the fourth, as Aaron Maier lined a single up the middle to score Tyler Harrison.
“They’re as competitive as they come,” Serra coach Mat Keplinger said of his players. “They don’t back down from any adversity, which we knew was going to strike at some point. We’ve been in those situations, so there’s no panic from the group.”
Serra added an insurance run when Evan Bradshaw doubled down the left-field line in the seventh, scoring Jack Wessell to give the Padres a 4-2 lead. But Ian Josephson, who advanced to third on the play, was thrown out at home after Minton hit a medium-depth fly ball to center field, snuffing out Serra’s rally.
The player who made the inning-ending throw? Baumgartner.
“Having a two-sport guy is phenomenal,” Jeans said of his right fielder. “He’s going to Fresno State for football, and he throws a guy out at the plate in the seventh. And then he comes up with the chopper and with his speed, no way. Right when he hit it, I knew.”
Baumgartner prevented the run that could have put the game out of reach. Then he drove in the winning run.
“Probably the best baseball feeling I’ve ever had, for sure,” Baumgartner said. “Teammates running after me after we just won the game, NorCal championship, doesn’t get better than that.”
De La Salle made history simply by winning the game, but Castro made a bit of individual history as well. With his game-tying hit in the seventh, he broke Tony Martinez’s DLS record for RBIs in a season.
Castro now stands alone with 45 runs batted in this year.
“I was just happy that I got it done for the boys,” Castro said. “That was what was going through my mind the whole at-bat. I saw a pitch that I could hit. I was just thinking, ‘Do it for the boys. Get this run in, so we got a chance.’”
The home setting in Concord added to the pageantry of De La Salle returning to the NorCal mountaintop after a disappointing loss to Granada in the NorCal semifinals last year. This Spartans senior class leaves a legacy of reestablishing De La Salle baseball as the preeminent program in Northern California.
“We trust in our guys,” said Spangler, who was on the 2023 team that beat Valley with the six-run rally. “We trust in the guys behind us, and we’re confident in anyone that they can do the job. I can’t even describe it. You play for that the whole season. That’s really what you play for. I’m just really happy about it.”
