Play-in? Play on: St. Augustine beats San Ysidro in first postseason baseball game

The goal is to win and get to the double-elimination round.

In a format unique to the CIF San Diego Section, playoff teams outside the top four seeds in baseball have to survive a play-in round to join the big boys in double-elimination play.

Tuesday, St. Augustine High School, seeded No. 7 in Division 1, edged San Ysidro 5-2 at Hickman Field.

The Saints (12-17) advance to play at No. 2-seeded Del Norte on Wednesday. San Ysidro sees its season end at 7-21.

“We beat San Ysidro 5-2 earlier in the season, so we weren’t fooled by their record,” said St. Augustine coach Craig da Luz. “They can play.”

Saints junior right-hander Declan Higgins was in complete control for 52/3 innings. He struck out the side in the first inning, worked out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the second, then retired 13 hitters in a row.

San Ysidro finally broke through in the sixth when Pedro Carbal singled with two outs and scored on a double by Emmanuel Valdez. Alexavier Abdala followed with an RBI single before Higgins got a foul pop to end the inning.

Cruz Reyes got three groundball outs in the seventh to earn the save.

Higgins, who improved to 7-2 on the season, struck out a season-high eight batters, didn’t walk a batter and got seven groundball outs in his most important start of the season, just missing a perfect game.”My mindset is to pound the zone, throw strikes and let my defense play behind me,” said Higgines, who has 34 strikeouts in 56 innings. “I’m not an overpowering guy, so I have to trust my team.

“This was a big game, a win-or-go-home game. And I absolutely loved the situation.”

Leadoff hitter Guillermo MacFarland paced the St. Augustine offense with a walk and a long homer to right. His sixth-inning drive to right was caught at the fence.

“I thought I got a second one, but just missed,” he said. “We’re a young team (starting four juniors and three sophomores). And with our league, we’re battle-tested.”

The Saints play in the Western League, which boasts three Open Division playoff teams: No. 1 Cathedral Catholic, No. 5 seed Patrick Henry and No. 6 seed Point Loma. The Saints played 21 of their 28 games against playoff teams, going 7-14 in those.

“Higgins has pitched well for us all season,” da Luz said. “He’s crafty. He’s in the zone. He challenges hitters. He isn’t a big strikeout guy, but has only walked six hitters all season. He got us to where we wanted to be.”

San Ysidro also played a grinder of a season, playing Eastlake, seeded No. 3 in the Open Division, as well as playoff teams Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch in league play.

The Cougars started four juniors, a pair of sophomores and three freshmen, including pitcher Jacob Benavides, the ace of the staff with a 3-5 record.

“We’re really young, I mean really young,” said San Ysidro coach Ray Lozada Jr. “We played a lot of the big boys, took our lumps, but learned a lot. It has been a long season, a learning season. Hopefully, the experience pays off down the road.”

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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 9:54 PM.