Mustangs win, inch closer to baseball playoffs

The Sunset Region playoffs are something of a foreign concept to Shadow Ridge’s baseball team.

The Mustangs have heard about them, but they’ve never been there before.

Thanks to a fantastic pitching performance from Brandon Show on Wednesday, the Mustangs are a step closer to finally seeing the postseason.

Show fired a three-hitter to lead Shadow Ridge to a 6-3 win at Palo Verde, moving the Mustangs (16-9, 7-5 Northwest) into a tie with Legacy for fourth place in the Northwest League. The top four teams in each league qualify for the playoffs, which begin May 9.

“We talked to the kids at the beginning of the week and told them that is kind of a six-game playoff for us,” said Shadow Ridge coach Frank Tousa, whose team beat Centennial 4-1 on Tuesday. “They’re excited to be in this situation. Our school has never been to the playoffs in baseball, and that’s been one of our goals.”

Show, a senior, who entered the game with a 6.10 ERA in 20 2/3 innings, allowed two earned runs. He walked one, hit two batters and struck out five.

“He kind of struggled early in the year, but he’s started to come on the last couple of games,” Tousa said. “He threw very well today. He just pounded the strike zone.”

Panthers leadoff batter Jordan Benson went 2-for-4 with a double. The only other hit Show allowed was a bad-hop single over the shoulder of third baseman Mike Wager in the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs gave Show plenty of offense.

Shadow Ridge pounded out 15 hits and put the leadoff man on base in every inning except the third. The Mustangs had 19 at-bats with a runner in scoring position.

Wager and Joey Liuzza both drove in a run with bases-loaded singles in the first inning, and Bruce Butler and Liuzza hit consecutive doubles in the third inning to give Shadow Ridge a 3-0 lead.

“We’ve done really well offensively,” Tousa said. “We seem to be able to put pressure on people.”

Palo Verde scored twice in the third, taking advantage of a hit batter, Benson’s double and a wild pitch.

But Shadow Ridge responded with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to give Show more than enough cushion.

Liuzza went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Josh Roelofs, Troy Williams, Wager, Mitchell Shields and Danny Turnbull all added two hits.