De La Salle, Graham Schlicht shut out St. Mary's, WCAL rival Serra awaits for NorCal Division 1 title

Stanford-bound right-hander was brilliant to improve to 11-0 on the season and lower his ERA to 0.67.

De La Salle junior winning pitcher Graham Schlicht improved to 11-0 after throwing a complete game shutout against St. Mary's in the NorCals Semifinal. / Photo courtesy of De La Salle baseball

CONCORD, Calif. — A sunny sky and slight breeze made Thursday afternoon a perfect day for high school baseball as the De La Salle Spartans hosted the St. Mary's Rams for a semifinal showdown in the Northern California (CIF) Division 1 playoffs.

The energy met the occasion, with the stands being full more than half an hour before first pitch, and fans standing on the back of the adjacent track bleachers just to get a glimpse of this highly touted playoff matchup.

With loads of college talent on hand, Stanford bound junior pitcher Graham Schlicht outdid everyone by pitching a four-hitter with nine strikeouts, leading the host Spartans to a 3-0 victory. A pair of RBI singles from Antonio Castro was all the offense Schlicht would need as the Spartans advanced to Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game at home against Serra, which won by an identical 3-0 score over College Park in the other semifinal.

"Graham was absolutely amazing today," said Oklahoma bound center fielder Alec Blair. "He was so good I didn't have a single ball hit my way. I'm definitely Graham Schlicht's No. 1 fan today."

These teams were no strangers to one another, as in the first game of the season back in March, St. Mary's beat the Spartans 4-1. St. Mary's had their sights on reaching back-to-back finals after last year's loss to Granada. De La Salle sought to reestablish dominance in NorCal baseball by extending yet another title campaign.

De La Salle junior shortstop and Stanford commit Tyler Spangler. / File photo courtesy of De La Salle athletics

With the fans buzzing and each dugout surging with energy, the game got underway, headed up by a pair of junior starting pitchers.

For the Rams, it was southpaw and UCLA commit Nico Bavaro, who came in with a 1.35 ERA on the season and only one loss in his career. The Spartans answered with right-hander Schlicht and his impressive 0.67 ERA. (All stats courtesy of MaxPreps).

De La Salle got on the board early as senior Ethan Sullivan led off the bottom of the first with a single, then took second on a ball in the dirt, and stole third, allowing himself to score on an infield single by fellow senior Castro, a Cal Poly-SLO signee.

St. Marys would have a chance to equalize in the top of the third when Markus Mickle drew a walk and stole second with no one out, but Schlicht would strand him there after striking out the next three batters causing a roar from the Spartan dugout.

The 6-foot-4 starter performed another impressive escape in the fifth when he found himself with runners on first and third with no outs. Schlicht got bookending strikeouts with a quick turn and catch on a foul bunt by Spartan catcher Zach Tchejeyan in between, elicited a huge cheer from the right-handed pitcher as he pounded his chest back to the dugout.

"Sometimes I think strikeouts, but mainly I just try to get double play balls behind me and let the guys behind me do the work," Schlicht told De La Salle play-ty-play announcer Pat O'Rourke. "I'm really just thinking to get our guys back in the dugout and let them do their thing on offense."

On the other side, Bavaro would keep the Rams in the game by holding a De La Salle lineup that averages over eight runs a game to the lone run until the bottom half of that fifth inning.

The game's second run would come, yet again, by way of Castro, as the future Mustang lined a double into center field that scored junior Sam Lakey. Bavaro escaped a bases-loaded jam in that same inning, however, he would be relieved after getting the first out of the sixth.

In the same Inning that Bavaro was relieved from the game, the crowd was witness to a battle of 2026 standouts. Mississippi State commit Dax Hardcastle took the mound with two men on base agaisnt Stanford Commit Tyler Spangler. While the at-bat may have ended in a groundout, the crowd was on the edge of their seat for that encounter.

Bavaro escaped a bases-loaded jam in that same inning, however, it was Schlicht who controlled the game the whole way through. Niko Baumgartner scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-0 De La Salle before the Spartan starter returned to the mound for the seventh inning and made quick work of the inning, putting the finishing touches on an impressive line, seven complete innings, nine strikeouts, only four hits given up, and the win.

St. Mary's ends their season winning 26 games and finishing first in the Tri-City Athletic League. While De La Salle gets revenge for their opening day loss and keeps their title charge alive, they will host West Catholic Athletic League rival Serra 4 p.m. on Saturday.

In only its fourth season the Northern California playoffs have been in place, De La Salle won the first two in 2022 and 2023 over St. Francis and Valley Christian, respectfully. Serra and De La Salle have played 12 times since 2005, seven won by the Spartans, including the last three in a row. .

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Joey Ace - joeyvd909@gmail.com - @Joeace99 on twitter/X