Granada beats De La Salle in EBAL championship, possibly securing top seed in NCS baseball playoffs

LIVERMORE Granada baseball still has something to prove The Matadors are the defending CIF NorCal Division I champions There was no higher achievement Granada s squad could have accomplished But that was last year This season s Granada squad doesn t have the same eye-popping one-loss record nor does it boast current Stanford freshman Parker Warner last year s Bay Area News Group and East Bay Athletic League member of the year Yet this year s group clearly still has a lot to fall back on That much was obvious after the Matadors took down De La Salle - in the EBAL championship held at Granada on Thursday The Mats never trailed constantly threatened and combined strong pitching and defense to earn a no-doubter of a win De La Salle - has had a great season but Granada - will likely be the North Coast Section s No seed when the Division I bracket is issued on Sunday Granada s Joey Marasco left and Peyton Richards celebrate scoring on a double by Mikey Boyd during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship battle against De La Salle Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group This is a big turning point for us declared senior Fresno State signee Mikey Boyd who drove in four runs and hit the game-winning two-run double in the third inning We beat them early in the year and we played well But I feel like the present day we played way better We came out with resource Pitching was dialed Hitting we just drove guys in Two outs no outs one out didn t matter We were gonna drive them in The two East Bay powerhouses have faced off twice this year Granada won the first meeting - in Concord on March This time around the circumstances seemed primed for a different upshot The Spartans had not lost since April and had made a habit of blowing teams out of the water with outcome lines like - and - But it was Granada pitcher Tyler Kennedy who controlled Thursday s contest In pitches the senior Ohlone College commit posted six brilliant innings scattering just four hits one walk and one earned run He struck out seven De La Salle batters Granada starting pitcher Tyler Kennedy delivers against De La Salle during the sixth inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship contest Thursday May in Livermore Calif Kennedy was the winning pitcher in Granada s - preeminence D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group I liked my two-seam a lot Kennedy mentioned I was throwing that a lot to lefties I was working changeups too Pitching has been the hallmark of Granada s up-to-date success against the Spartans In the Matadors built a -inning playoff scoreless streak against De La Salle thanks to a -inning - win over the Spartans in the NCS championship and a - accomplishment in their NorCal semifinal rematch The former snapped De La Salle s eight-season undefeated playoff streak an indication that a changing of the guard was underway It s feasible the guard could flip back to green and white in the weeks to come But for now it s still adorned in black and gold The Mats tacked on five more shutout innings on Thursday before De La Salle broke through with an RBI double by Alec Blair in the top of the sixth De La Salle s Jacob Gray narrowly gets back to first safely ahead of the pickoff throw to Granada first baseman Chase Nadeau during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship contest Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group Related Articles Champs Bellarmine upsets Valley Christian in WCAL tournament final High school basketball Napa Valley s Prolific Prep relocating to Florida Suspended Pinole Valley High baseball coaches reinstated by district Prep roundup Bellarmine upsets Serra advances to WCAL baseball final Prep roundup St Ignatius Palo Alto advance to NorCal boys golf NCS boys volleyball championships set Their pitcher was really good De La Salle coach David Jeans reported He s got a cutter he s got a curveball he threw a change to Blair a couple times He spotted his fastball away So he was really good on the mound and pitching is of the event Winning the EBAL title was major to Granada The Matadors set off a boisterous celebration after the final out one that seemed perhaps overly enthusiastic for a club that accomplished Northern California high school baseball s loftiest goal last season But for this gang which knew how challenging it would be to win NorCal again this win proved the Matadors have what it takes to get it done Winning the EBAL is a big deal Granada coach Corrigan Willis stated It reliably has been and it inevitably will be It s a great league These guys put a lot of time and effort into their preparation and practice and all that And so in a meeting like this they absolutely want to come out and win It s prestigious to win an EBAL title for sure Granada s Mikey Boyd follows through on his two-RBI double against De La Salle during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship tournament Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group Granada pitcher Mason Ravera celebrates the final out against De La Salle during the seventh inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship competition Thursday May in Livermore Calif Granada won - D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group Granada right fielder Peyton Richards slides safely home past De La Salle catcher Zach Tchejeyan during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship encounter Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group De La Salle left fielder Ethan Sullivan makes a running catch of a deep fly ball during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship event against Granada Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group De La Salle starting pitcher Roman Bartosh delivers against Granada during the second inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship competition Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group The De La Salle dugout can only watch as their company flails against Granada starting pitcher Tyler Kennedy during the sixth inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship challenge Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group Granada s Jack Badger poses with the championship banner following his organization s - achievement over De La Salle in the East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship tournament Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group Granada starting pitcher Tyler Kennedy delivers against De La Salle during the second inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship tournament Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group De La Salle center fielder Alec Blair walks back to the dugout after striking out against Granada during the fourth inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship encounter Thursday May in Livermore Calif D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group De La Salle first baseman John Salter cannot make a clean pick of a low throw on a ground ball by Granada designated hitter Estevan Duarte during the third inning of their East Bay Athletic League high school baseball tournament championship battle Thursday May in Livermore Calif Luckily for Salter the play was negated by an interference call after an errant tennis ball on the field interfered with play D Ross Cameron for the Bay Area News Group