The only two Bay Valley Athletic League losses Deer Valley suffered this year came at the hands of league champion Heritage. That gave the Patriots the home field advantage in the first-round North Coast Section playoff game between the two – otherwise, the slate was wiped clean.

After building up a five-run lead in the fourth inning, it looked like the Wolverines would avenge their prior losses. But Heritage rallied to score one in the fourth, one in the fifth, and four in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead, which would stand as the final.

“We were not going to go home,” said junior second baseman Carlos Carrillo. “We stayed focused. We had the mindset to get the win, and we never failed.”

Heritage junior pitcher Paul Blackburn went the full seven innings, but he did struggle. The Wolverines struck in the first inning when senior designated hitter Joshua Garcia singled in senior leftfielder Nicholas Gavello. In the fourth inning, junior shortstop Thomas Riley and junior second baseman Michael Lanter both beat out infield singles. After sophomore catcher Jordan Gough walked, the bases were loaded with one out for senior first baseman Patrick McKnight.

McKnight hit a fastball to right-centerfield that he and Blackburn assumed would be caught. But a strong tailwind swept the ball over the heads of the Heritage outfielders for a grand slam, giving Deer Valley a 5-0 lead.

“I just put my head down and swung as hard as I could,” McKnight said. “To hit a grand slam in the NCS playoffs – it just doesn’t get much better than that.”

Heritage got a run in each of the next two innings, but left the bases loaded both times. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Patriots rallied. Blackburn’s single scored senior shortstop Jake Meister. Carrillo also scored when the ball got away from Gavello in left field while Blackburn advanced to second. After an intentional walk to senior right fielder Ryan Howell, senior left fielder Jeff Casperson stepped up with two on and two out.

After falling behind 0-2 in the count to Wolverines sophomore relief pitcher Tyler Vistalli, Casperson took an opposite field approach. He lined a ball into the right center field gap that scored both Blackburn and Howell. Casperson was thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple, but Howell had already scored for the 6-5 lead. Jorgensen threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish the game.

“I knew the pitcher was struggling,” said Casperson. “I think it was a fastball; I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as I could to the opposite field.”

Vistalli replaced junior starter Ricky Delgado with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Delgado allowed one unearned run on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

After McKnight’s slam, Blackburn didn’t allow any hits.

The victory earned the Patriots a Friday road date against top-seeded San Ramon Valley. Heritage lost 7-3 to the Wolves on April 25.

“I’ll be really interested to see how we play against San Ramon,” said manager Kevin Brannan. “When they beat us, we were without a couple of our top guys – but they’re a great team.”