COS baseball sweeps Diablo Valley to advance in playoffs

Written by Damian Marquez

When the Central Valley Conference baseball season started, College of the Sequoias freshman Dillon Kelley wasn't sure what his role on the team was going to be.

Kelley said before the first conference game against Reedley, coach Jody Allen walked up to him and told him he was going to be the starting catcher and hitting in the clean-up hole.

Kelley was hesitant to believe Allen because he admittedly didn't play very well leading up to the beginning of the conference season.

From the moment Kelley saw his name on the lineup card and realized Allen wasn't joking, he took the job and ran with it.

Kelley posted a .388 average, had 35 RBIs, 10 extra-base hits and 20 runs scored during the regular season to help lead the Giants to the conference title.

His regular-season numbers earned him the Central Valley Conference most valuable player award.

What did Kelley do for an encore?

He went 4-for-8 in two games as the No. 5-seeded Giants swept No. 12 Diablo Valley in a best-of-three series in the Northern California Regional playoffs.

Kelley's two-run, bases-loaded double in the first inning of Saturday's game, proved to be the difference as the Giants won 4-1.

COS scored all four runs in the first inning.

"We knew we had to score early," Kelley said. "We put up runs and we noticed they put their heads down a bit and that helped us in the long run."

Hitting with runners on base is nothing new to Kelley. With hitters like Nick Stoll, Ross Feeley and Rudy Navarro hitting in front of him, he has been the beneficiary of having runners on base.

"I take a lot of pride in that," Kelley said. "I'm grateful that I have hitters that get on base a lot. They put me in a position where I can drive in runs. It helps having them on because pitchers have to change how they pitch to me. It made me more confident at the plate."

Allen said Kelley has been coming through for the Giants all season.

"From Day 1 when we put him in the four-hole, he competed well," Allen said. "He drove in runs and had a lot of two-out hits. With the bases loaded [Saturday], he took a nice big swing and got a double. That's what you need in that situation."

The four runs the Giants put up were more than enough for starting pitcher Tyler Beardsley.

The sophomore right-hander gave up just one run in 7 1/3 innings pitched to improve to 5-2 on the season.

"What Tyler did today was outstanding," Allen said. "He showed up and had a great fastball."

Beardsley also had some great defense behind him.

In the fifth inning, Diablo Valley managed to get a pair of runners on base, but Blake Edmonson and Rudy Navarro made diving catches to end the threat.

"Their coach said he thought the difference in the series was our defense, and I would agree," Allen said.

" ... Edmonson and Rudy made some great diving catches. You have to have confidence to make plays like that and they did."

Following their win, the Giants had to wait for the results from a pair of series to find out where they would be playing next week.

There were no upsets of teams ahead of them, so they'll be playing at No. 4 Sierra in a best-of-three series beginning Friday.

"Our whole team is fantastic," Kelley said. "Defensively, people step up when they need to. It's all teamwork and we all love each other here. We can go a long way."

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20140505/SPORTS/305050003/COS-baseball-sweeps-Diablo-Valley-advance-playoffs