Behind a sparkling performance from right-hander Daniel Chavez, the College of San Mateo baseball team wrapped up a two-game sweep of No. 10 seed Sequoias in the opening round of the Northern California playoffs with a 2-1 win on Saturday in San Mateo.
Chavez, who starred for Serra High’s 2009 Central Coast Section Division I championship team, hurled 8 1/3 dominant innings, allowing one unearned run and three singles, to outduel Kyle Brueggeman and send the seventh-seeded Bulldogs to the Super Regional round on May 13-15.
(UPDATE: CSM plays No. 8 seed Ohlone on Friday at Solano College in Fairfield. No. 17 seed Sacramento and third-seeded Solano make up the rest of the four-team, double-elimination Super Regional.)
Trailing 1-0 with one out in the top of the ninth, CSM finally broke through against Brueggeman. Riley Goulding and Justin Maffei singled, and then Michael Kathan singled home pinch-runner Griffin Kirsch to tie the game. Then Mark Hurley greeted reliever Taylor Wade with an RBI single to left that scored Maffei to give the Bulldogs (27-10) the lead.
After Chavez issued a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth, CSM coach Doug Williams summoned star reliever Josh Fredendall, who induced a first-pitch flyout and then a strikeout to record his second save in two days.
Brueggeman, among the state leaders in strikeouts, allowed six hits, all singles, while striking out seven and walking none in taking the hard-luck defeat for Sequoias (26-12).
Fredendall, a Hillsdale High alum who led the state with a 0.25 ERA this season, also threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings to cap CSM’s 6-4 victory in the series opener on Friday afternoon.
The Bulldogs, the 2010 state runner-up, unleashed a 13-hit attack on Friday, including 3-for-4 days from Hurley and Maffei, a Serra product who had a double and a triple. CSM never trailed in the opener, and extended its lead to 5-2 in the sixth behind a run-scoring double from Goulding, who had two hits in both games, and Maffei’s ensuing RBI triple.
Devin Bradley (Carlmont) came on in relief of Clay Bauer in the opener, allowing two runs in 3 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.
