Santa Cruz Mets Defend In Woodland

(Front row) Jeremy Kirby, Jeremy Hernendez, Ray Hutchison, Eddie Newman, Brian Feduk, Tom Macari, Hector Esparza (Back row) Steve Monigold, Matt Meier, Jordan Romero, Michael Barnes, Jake Holt, Ryan Becks, Randyn Trybom, Wes Bentley, Juan Cervantes, Brad Shannon (Photo by Dave Meier).

For the third straight year the Santa Cruz Mets took down the Woodland/Davis "Best in the West" tourney over the Labor Day weekend.

This year the Mets faced a tough Tri Valley Cardinals team, who had beaten them in round robin, 12-5. The Cardinals came out swinging behind solid bats and former big leaguer Wayne Franklin on the hill to secure that win.

The Mets kept their heads up, however, going into Monday's playoffs as the 2nd seed, facing last year's runner up Southern Marin Indians. The Indians had a 4-1 lead going into the 5th when Mets bats finally came alive, eventually winning 7-5. Wes Bentley and Ryan Becks both left the yard driving in a total of four runs, while Eddie Newman shut the Indians bats down on the hill earning the Win.

In Game Two, Jeremy Hernandez was handed the rock and threw a total of seven innings against a pesky Cardinals offense who scored a total of 9 runs. Mets answered with 13 of their own to eventually pull out the win. Jake Holt, Wes Bentley and Jeremy Kirby all sent the ball packing, combining for a total of 9 RBIs. Ryan Becks drove in 3 runs himself, while Ray Hutchison scored 3 leading off.

All in all however, it was a total team effort that was needed to seal the deal and bring home the 3-Peat.....

Beyond the team effort, Jeremy Hernandez took the HR derby, for the 2nd year!!! Hector Esparza took 2nd and Jeremy Kirby took 3rd, out of 25 entrants!

Next up: 25 Federal in Arizona!!!