Honkers top Granite Bay

The kid who's been hitless all season stepped into the batter's box with a newfound sense of confidence.

His team needed him — tie game, bottom of the sixth, runner on second base — and Andrew Garcia knew he needed to deliver to kick the 0-for-8 start to his year and put the Yuba City High baseball team ahead of Granite Bay.

Moments earlier, he made the play of the game in the field when turned a key double play to get the Honkers out of a tight spot. Invigorated, the senior dug in at the plate with determination to be just as valuable with his bat.

Garcia smacked a double, the Honkers took the lead, then tacked on a few more for insurance as Yuba City topped the Grizzlies 5-1 in a match-up of two of the top teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

"After I turned that double play, it gave me the momentum and the confidence to hit," Garcia said.

In the top of the sixth, with a runner on first and no outs, new pitcher Tyler Olson induced a shallow grounder to second. Garcia charged at the ball, scooped it up, lunged to tag the lead runner before rifling off a throw to first base.

"I noticed the runner wasn't slowing up, and I timed (the tag) perfectly," he said.

His coach called it "heads up." But Jim Stassi said the flashy glovework did more than stifle the Grizzlies attempt to break the 1-1 stalemate and give his cold-hitting second basemen a boost. It helped pump up the entire team, which hadn't put a runner past first base since the opening frame when Jake Stassi belted a double and was brought home by a Blake Parks single.

"That was the turning point," Jim Stassi said. "That lit a fire under us and got us going."

For a team that usually smacks the stitches off the ball, the Honkers were effectively stymied by Grizzlies starter Braden Young, who managed to keep pace with Honkers' ace Jake Stassi.

It wasn't completely a case of the Honkers being off their game. Granite Bay's just that good. The Grizzlies handed the Yuba City one of it's three losses last year en route to the Div. II title game.

For a team looking for a four-peat as Div. III champions, challenges like these are what the Honkers relish.

"We want to play the best around, that's what makes up better," said Jim Stassi, who communicated that ideal to his players before their four-run outburst in the sixth. "These are the games we want to play, let's go out there and get some runs."

His son responded by drawing a walk before being moved over on a Parks sacrifice bunt. Standing at second, Jake Stassi had a feeling Garcia would deliver. "I knew he was going to get it done," he said.

After Garcia gave himself a

batting average, pinch hitter Zak Morgan rebounded from an 0-2 count for a two-RBI single and Seth Davis delivered from his No. 9 spot in the order to bring in the final run.

With a four-run cushion, Olson, who took over after Stassi's five-inning, six strikeout tenure, didn't even try to make it interesting. The junior hurler just kept pumping fastballs down the pipe and struck out the side to give Yuba City it's third win of the season.

"That was a very confident outing for him on the mound," Jim Stassi said.

Contact sports writer Ryan Klocke at 749-4714 or at rklocke@appealdemocrat.com.