The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

The College of San Mateo baseball team knew they were in for a dogfight Saturday afternoon against College of the Sequoias.

The Giants were down 1-0 in the opening round of the CCCAA playoffs after dropping a 4-3 decision to the Bulldogs Friday afternoon in game one of the best-of-three series. With their season on the line, Sequoias sent out their ace, Kyle Brueggeman, who for 8 1/3 innings was every bit the pitcher Sequoias needed.

But what Sequoias hadn’t counted on was that on this particular day, CSM’s Daniel Chavez would be every bit the ace that Brueggeman is, and then some.

Chavez pitched his best game of the year Saturday, allowing an unearned run in 8 1/3 innings of work. His performance, coupled with a dramatic two-run ninth for the Bulldogs, gave CSM the 2-1 victory and propelled them to the next round of the CCCAA playoffs.

“He stepped up in a championship frame of mind,” said Bulldogs manager Doug Williams. “He was outstanding. Their guy pitched lights out but Danny matched and even, by the score, pitched a little bit better. (It was) really a quality performance by Danny.”

“I feel good,” Chavez said after the game. “I felt good coming out there. I was just trying to throw strikes.”

Chavez was being modest. Sequoias pushed all their chips to the middle of the table Saturday, with Brueggeman keeping the Bulldogs off balanced his splitter. But Chavez matched the right-hander pitch-for-pitch.

“It was like two heavyweights going blow for blow,” Williams said.

The Giants landed the first big punch of the afternoon though, with Brueggeman and Chavez throwing jabs and small combinations in innings one through six. In those frames, only once did either team have a runner reach as far as second base and not once did the Giants or the Bulldogs have two runners on simultaneously. CSM tried to create opportunities with their legs, but unlike Friday where they stole four bases in the early part of the contest, Sequoias’ Joey Andrada was more than up for the challenge.

CSM got themselves in trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Brett Hall was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. At the time, the move to bunt Hall over seemed curious given that Giants manager Jody Allen had his clean-up hitter due up. As it turned out, his No. 4 hitter had suffered an injury to his left arm and would be unavailable the rest of the game. Joe Arnold was brought in to execute the sacrifice. The next batter, Jesse Gonzales, drew a four-pitch walk.

With Scott Loper at the plate, the Bulldogs committed the mistake that cost them a run. Chavez caught Hall trying to steal third base and had him in a run down. On the play, with Hall crashing for third after a couple of throws, CSM’s Michael Kathan bounced the ball into third and into foul territory, allowing Hall to slide in safely for what should have been the second out. After Loper walked to load the bases, Joey Xavier drove a ball deep enough into right centerfield to allow Hall to tag up and score the game’s first run. Kody Holt grounded out to first to end the inning and stop any further damage.

“That was huge,” Williams said of Chavez’s ability to keep the deficit at one following the error. “We were thinking we only needed one against their guy and we weren’t going to get many but, he held them there and he was able to keep his composure after a tough situation.”

Brueggeman shut down the Bulldogs in top of the eighth and came out in the ninth with the one-run lead to try and get the complete game.

“We hit the ball hard,” said CSM centerfielder Justin Maffei of his team’s offense, “it wasn’t like he struck out 20 guys. Those kind of games where you’re hitting the ball hard right at people, you just have to stick it through the end.”

Shawn Walters struck out to begin the ninth, but it was bit of luck that fueled the CSM rally. Riley Goulding popped a ball up into shallow left centerfield that fell between three Giant defenders. Maffei followed that single with one of his own, bouncing one of the middle to give the Bulldogs runners on first and second with one out and Kathan, CSM’s leading hitter during the regular season, an opportunity to be the hero.

“Coach Williams had been talking hit-and-run,” Kathan said, “we didn’t do it on the first pitch, but I got the sign, and tried to stay on top of a high pitch.”

The approach and the call worked to perfection. On a 1-1 fastball, Kathan lined a ball into left centerfield, easily scoring Griffin Kirsch (who had been brought in to pinch-run for Goulding after his single) from second to tie the game.

Allen went to his bullpen after the single, bringing in closer Taylor Wade to try and keep it tied. But on a 1-0 pitch to Mark Hurley, the left fielder singled between the third baseman and shortstop to plate Maffei and give the Bulldogs the 2-1 lead.

“We got a break there,” Williams said of the ninth, “and got a guy on and we decided we weren’t going to sit around forever and be aggressive in the later innings. We put the hit-and-run on and Kathan executed it great. They knew this was a tense game. It was a situation where we were playing inning-by-inning knowing we could crack it open at any time. I really think they did a good job; there was no panic, there was no press. This is a young team and they came kind of came of age today.”

Now with the lead, Chavez came out for the ninth. After getting the first out, Chavez walked Gonzales, thus ending his afternoon when Williams decided to bring in Josh Fredendall to close things out. Chavez walked into the CSM dugout to a standing ovation by the Bulldog faithful.

“Danny was great,” Maffei said. “Control has been one of his problems this year, but he was on today. He was able to keep them off-balance, controlling his fastball and his change-up. He did a great job.”

“You can’t ask for a better college baseball game,” Williams said, whose Bulldogs will get another shot at Ohlone College – the team that beat the Bulldogs for the state title last year – starting Friday. The original top two seeds in the CCCAA playoffs, Feather River and Diablo Valley College, were eliminated from the playoffs. CSM has been re-seeded at No. 4.