Three in One

Clutch Wins Keep Pali High Baseball Atop League Standings

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

There are still two week left in the regular season but the Palisades High baseball team is already in playoff mode. The Dolphins eked out three one-run wins last week to keep alive their bid for a Top 4 seed in the City Open Division playoffs.

“We have five games left and we have to win out, that’s our mentality,” Coach Mike Voelkel said following Saturday’s come-from-behind tournament win against Golden Valley, in which the Dolphins rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning at George Robert Field. “It’s very advantageous to get one of the top four seeds because you not only get a bye, you get extra rest for your pitchers. It’s no guarantee but if we can finish undefeated in league we have a shot given the quality of team we’ve faced and the teams we’ve beaten in our section.”

Down to its last strike twice against the Grizzlies, Palisades did not wilt under pressure. Zach Gresham doubled to right field to tie the game and catcher Nate Sterling followed with a base hit to score Gresham, who slid under a tag at home plate to give the Dolphins a 4-3 victory.

Sterling, Wells and Aiden Jbara each had two hits, Tate Foxson threw four innings and John Iacono pitched the last three.   

The day before, Palisades trailed 1-0 at Hamilton hading into the last inning but Wells reached on a throwing error and was out on a fielder’s choice by Jake Herrera, who took second on a single by Vincent Langdon. Gresham drew a walk, then Sterling doubled over the center fielder’s head to drive home the tying and go-ahead runs. Lefty ace Mason Edwards told Voekel he was okay to pitch the bottom half, his coach believed him and Edwards finished off his masterful complete game, striking out the side to preserve a 2-1 triumph that kept Palisades in the driver’s seat in the Western League standings with four games remaining—two each against University and LACES. The only other game is a nonleague affair at Harbor City Narbonne on Saturday.

“This was a great win for us—one of our biggest all season,” Voelkel said. “Teams are going to come after us with their aces, we expect that. Hamilton’s record may not be great but they played us the toughest of anyone in league so far. Their pitchers did a great job but so did ours.”

Regarding his decision to let Edwards finish the game, Voelkel admitted he is old school and went with his gut: “I asked him how he felt and he said he could go so that’s good enough for me. Pitching and defense are our fortes and in these last two games we managed to find just enough offense to win. These kids have a lot of character and it shows.”   

Last Wednesday, Palisades got an early run and its pitching made the lead stand up in a 1-0 win in the series opener against visiting Hamilton. Jbara’s RBI scored Foxson in the second inning. The Yankees (15-7) threatened to score in three of the seven frames, but were unable to scratch across a run against Ryan Higgins, who allowed one hit in six innings with eight strikeouts.

Palisades is trying to go undefeated in league play for the fourth straight time (there were no league games played in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The last time the Dolphins lost a league contest was March 16, 2017 at Venice. They have won 54 straight league games since then and are closing in on a fourth straight league crown.