The Dos Pueblos High School Varsity Baseball Team secured their spot in the CIF-SS Division 4 Championship with a 7-1 victory over Thousand Oaks High School in Tuesday’s semifinal matchup at Scott O’Leary Stadium. This will mark DPHS’s first appearance in a CIF championship since 1993, making it the second time in school history.
DPHS started the game off strong, with Alexander Hajda (12) hitting a three-run homer to left center field in the first inning. This gave the Chargers an early 3-0 lead, which made the crowd erupt in cheer.
A highlight from Hajda was being able to play another home CIF game in front of their fans and being able to “feed off their energy.”
Hajda continued on to get a total of 5 RBI’s by the end of the game.
On the mound, Seth Tedeschi (12) started his fourth consecutive CIF game and led the DPHS defense in keeping Thousand Oaks scoreless up until the fifth inning.
Thousand Oaks put some pressure on defense with back-to-back singles, allowing two runners on base. Tedeschi was able to strike out the next two batters, but hit the next batter, loading up the bases with only two outs.
Derek Brunet (12) came on to close out the last two and ⅓ innings of the game for Tedeschi, but due to a ground ball and an error from the Chargers, Thousand Oaks was able to get one runner to home plate, making the score 3-1 at the top of the fifth.
However, the Chargers didn’t let this affect them and were able to score three more runs after Zach Gesswein (12) got a two out single into left field, allowing Evan Bean (11) to score and make the score 4-1. Soon after, Hajda got a double into left field, allowing Stone Saunders (10) and Gesswein to score, increasing the lead to 6-1. In the sixth inning, DPHS was able to get one more hit from Brody Demourkas (12) that scored Jack Wilby (12).
Brunet was able to keep Thousand Oaks scoreless for the rest of the game, making the final score 7-1.
DPHS will now advance to the CIF-SS Division 4 Championship to take on Ganesha High School at Long Beach State’s Blair Field on Saturday at 4 p.m.
“We have 12 seniors that have spent our entire lives playing together, so I’m excited to play one more game with them and have the opportunity to win a championship together,” Hajda said.
