Pitching, power key Trojans’ win

Clutch pitching and key home runs lead Petaluma to a big 6-4 win over Division 1 power Serra.|

Coming off their most disappointing loss of the season, Petaluma High’s baseball Trojans came up with their most impressive victory last week, defeating Serra’s Division 1 Padres, 6-4.

Serra, from San Mateo, is ranked 31st in the state among D1 schools and fourth in the talent-loaded Central Coast Section.

Petaluma went into the game coming off an inexplicable 12-4 loss to Piner. But the Trojans, playing on their home diamond on a drizzly afternoon, were in top form, receiving clutch performances from both pitchers and hitters to turn back perhaps the best team they have faced during a difficult pre-league season.

“I’m very happy for our players,” said Petaluma coach Jim Selvitella. “They beat a very good team in a high-quality baseball game.”

Blake Buhrer started for the Trojans and pitched 4? innings, allowing four runs and eight hits, but, according to Selvitella, was more effective than the numbers indicate. He allowed the Padres a run in the first inning but shut them out over the next three frames before they erupted for three runs in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4.

Danny Marzo came on to quell the fifth-inning rally and pitched a scoreless sixth to get the win after Petaluma regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

In the seventh, with the game on the line, Nick Andrakin survived two hits and a walk to protect the lead and earn the save.

Petaluma’s offense was of the deep variety. In the bottom of the fourth, with the game tied at 1-1, freshman Garrett Lewis lofted a shot onto the football field for a solo home run, and the red-hot Jack Gallagher drove in two runs with a double to put the Trojans up 4-4.

After Serra had rallied to tie the game with a 3-run rally of its own in the top of the fifth, Petaluma sophomore Sam Brown hit a shot that Selvitella said is still going for a 2-run shot that gave Petaluma the ultimate margin of victory as Marzo and Andrakin made the 6-4 lead stand up.

Gallagher and Kempton Brandis each had two hits for the Trojans.

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