High School

De La Salle uses fast start, speed and lights out pitching from Jack Hershey to open NorCals with 6-0 win over Buchanan

Four extra base hits in first five at-bats including a two-run homer by red-hot Tanner Griffith sets the tone for the defending Division 1 champions

Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports

CONCORD, Calif. — De La Salle baseball manager David Jeans doesn't play many board games at home, but he likes to dabble on the baseball field. 

"Every year is a new puzzle so it's fun," he said Tuesday after a 6-0 opening round CIF Northern California Division 1 regional home win over Buchanan-Clovis. 

The defending champions don't look much like last year or the year before that. 

A program that traditionally intimidates opponents with big, bulking behemoths this season has won 25 of 30 games utilizing speed, gap-hitting and more speed. All was on full display Tuesday.

"It's a little different for us," Jean said with a wide smile. 

The Spartans don't waste any time either as they knocked around Buchanan ace  — Tri-River  Pitcher of the Year Braden Guentz, a Pepperdine commit — for four extra-base hits in the first five batters, including a two-run homer over the fence in right field by Tanner Griffith after a leadoff triple by Smith Chandler. 

"Tanner got a hold of that one," Jeans said of Griffith's fourth homer of the year (he leads the team with 31 RBI). "The wind was blowing straight in from right." 

After an out, Connor Harrison and Hank Tripaldi drilled back-to-back doubles to the left- and right-center gaps and it was 3-0 in a pinch.  

It was more than enough for UC Santa Barbara commit Jack Hershey, a 6-foot-4 junior right-hander who scattered five hits over six innings plus and struck out five. He gave way to another Jack (Karst) who got out of a two-on, nobody else jam to propel the second-seeded Spartans into Thursday's home semifinal against Franklin (30-4), a 5-4 winner over Hollister. 

Speedy Tanner Griffith showing off his speed last season in the NorCal Division 1 title game, a 7-6 win over Saint Francis. File photo: Dennis Lee

On the other side of the bracket is top seed Valley Christian (30-3), a 7-3 winner over California Valley Charter. Valley Christian and De La Salle annually are ranked 1-2 in the Bay Area in either direction. 

They haven't played each other since 2010, though they scrimmage every year. 

Jeans wouldn't touch the topic of the two titans finally facing off in a game that counts. 

He was just thrilled to beat the Central Section juggernauts, who have seven section titles since 2005, 13 conference crowns since 1994 and won mythical national crowns in 2011 and 2016. 

De La Salle and Buchanan (22-10) had split two previous meetings, with De La Salle winning 6-1 in 2018 and the Bears returning the favor 3-2 in 2022. 

The Spartans, winners of six straight section titles (14 overall), won the rubber game. 

"One day, one pitch at a time," Jeans said. "We're just happy we got by a great program. They have some great players but Jack Hershey just pitched really well." 

With a fastball clocked as fast as 90 mph and an effective change-up, Hershey wiggled out of jams in the first, fifth and sixth innings. Buchanan, which stranded nine, also hit some hard balls right at fielders.  

The Spartans played errorless, sparkling defense, especially second baseman Chandler, who ended the game with a nice backhand stop in front of the bag and strong off-balance throw. 

"I had my change-up and I had my fastball - I feel like that's all I needed," Hershey said. "I felt good with what I had. ... I threw a lot of fastball early in the game and about the third or fourth I started throwing my change-up. It made my fastball look a lot better." 

It helped to have a quick cushion. 

The Spartans added two more runs in the second on an error, singles from Chandler and Griffith, a hit batsman and sacrifice fly from Harrison, who capped the scoring in the sixth with an RBI double. 

"Being in tight games sometimes helps you keep locked in, but I was pretty locked in from the get-go today," Hershey said. "But getting those runs early helped big time.

"We got a good squad. We're raking. We're rolling." 

The top of the order has been on a big roll, In five postseason games, Chandler is 7 for 17 with 11 runs and three RBI; Griffith, a St. Mary's College-signee, is 10 for 16 with 12 runs and eight RBI. 

"We have a pretty deep lineup," Jeans said. "It's a combination of everybody. Every one is buying in." 

Published
Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports
MITCH STEPHENS, SBLIVE SPORTS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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