Concord De La Salle baseball team comes through in clutch again, rallies for 5-4 triumph against San Mateo Serra in Division 1 Northern California Regional final

Dramatic comebacks by the Concord De La Salle High baseball team are nothing new in the brief history of the Northern California Regional Division 1 final, and the Spartans rallied again Saturday for another remarkable victory against San Mateo Serra.

The top-seeded Spartans battled back with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, capped by a two-out infield single from Niko Baumgartner to score Antonio Castro to secure a 5-4 win against No. 3 Serra, capturing their third regional championship in the past four years.

Baumgartner also produced a huge assist from right field in the top of the seventh, throwing out Ian Josephson at the plate for a double play to keep De La Salle’s deficit at 4-2 entering the team’s final at-bat after Evan Bradshaw had an RBI double for Serra (28-7) earlier in the inning.

The Spartans (29-4) also scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in the inaugural Division 1 regional final in 2022 to earn a 7-6 victory against Mountain View St. Francis.

De La Salle produced six runs in the top of the seventh to achieve an 11-8 triumph in 2023 over San Jose Valley Christian to capture back-to-back regional championships.

Ethan Sullivan singled, with Castro and Tyler Spangler collecting doubles against Serra relief pitcher Davis Minton to tie the score at 4-4 for the Spartans.

Following an intentional walk to Alec Blair and a groundout moved runners to second and third with two outs for De La Salle, Baumgartner chopped a ground ball deep in the hole between third base and shortstop.

Baumgartner was able to beat out the throw from Josephson at shortstop, with Castro scoring from third to help De La Salle become the first baseball program to win three Northern California Regional titles.

The Spartans grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning, with Sullivan and Spangler both hitting doubles and Bubba Vargas producing an RBI sacrifice fly.

Minton tied the score at 2-2 in the third with a two-run double for the Padres.

Aaron Maier gave Serra its first lead at 3-2 following an RBI single in the fourth.

Bradshaw’s double in the seventh was his third hit, with William Walbridge collecting two hits for the Padres.

Tyler Harrison, Jack Wessell, Bradshaw and Josephson scored for Serra, which had a five-game winning streak halted, including a 3-2 victory May 31 in the CIF-Central Coast Section Division 1 final against San Jose Valley Christian for the program’s first title since 2009.

San Mateo Serra advanced to its first Division 1 Northern California Regional baseball final | Photo courtesy of Serra

After surrendering two runs in the first inning, Serra starter Riley Lim settled down to limit De La Salle to only one hit during the next four innings.

Castro, Spangler and Sullivan all had two hits apiece, with John Salter also contributing a hit for De La Salle, which concluded the season with seven consecutive victories, including an 11-2 triumph May 31 against College Park in the CIF-North Coast Section Division 1 final.

Roman Bartosh earned the win in relief for the Spartans, throwing four innings and allowing six hits and two earned runs, striking out two.