Max Debiec was relatively harmless when the bases were empty or there was just one runner aboard against Solano Community College in the Northern California Regional playoffs. The Folsom Lake sophomore was dangerous, however, when he stepped to the plate with two teammates on base. Solano head coach Scott Stover learned in two games how lethal the 6-foot-7 Debiec can be in those situations.
Debiec made each of his three hits count as Folsom Lake knocked out Solano by winning 11-2 on Thursday and 9-2 on Friday. Two of Debiec’s hits came with two on base. Debiec belted a two-run double in the fifth inning Thursday to break a 2-2 tie and followed Friday with a two-run triple in the fifth to give Folsom Lake a 3-0 lead.
Three runs would have been enough to win either game. Solano was by no means the only team to run into trouble against Debiec, who ranks second in the state with a .467 batting average. He has 71 RBI and could very well be the state leader depending on what Rocco Borreli of Los Medanos (69 RBI) does in a best-of-three series against Cañada.
Solano sophomore Conner Ross ranks third in batting average at .432 and is tied for seventh in RBI with 57. He was 2-for-4 on Friday and his leadoff homer in the sixth inning trimmed Folsom Lake’s lead to 3-2. The Napa High graduate will leave Solano after being honored as the Player of the Year in the Bay Valley Conference and will continue his college career at California Baptist.
Stover will enter the offseason with the task of replacing Ross, shortstop Kevin Parker, center fielder Miles Meadows and right fielder Joseph Guttmann from a team that finished second in the BVC at 16-5 and 26-15 overall. That would be his top four players in RBI and runs scored this season. Parker (.340), Guttmann (.333) and Meadows (.312) joined Ross among the team’s top six hitters. Two freshmen, left fielder Rolando Ramos (.350) and catcher JJ Dain (.346), followed Ross.
Parker relieved Mateo Santos in the seventh inning Friday after Tyler Allen led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Will C. Wood graduate Kobe Rolling. Vanden graduate Darryl Dilworth singled to drive in Allen and Parker then lost his control, walking the next two batters to load the bases. Parker struck out Nate Vargas and was one out away from escaping the seventh with no damage when he balked with Michael Ryan at the plate.
That allowed Dilworth to score and restore Folsom Lake’s three-run lead. Dilworth had an RBI double in the eighth and came home on a single by Debiec as Folsom Lake scored four runs to put the game away. Parker allowed five earned runs in 1.2 innings after yielding just nine in his other 16 relief appearances. Utah Valley will probably not need Parker to pitch when he joins the Wolverines in the fall.