NCS baseball roundup: De La Salle survives epic Heritage rally to advance
All season, a Graham Schlicht start for De La Salle meant nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard for the opponent.
But not Tuesday.
Still, even on a day in which the Stanford-bound Schlicht allowed his first three runs of the season, De La Salle held a commanding lead over 16th-seeded Heritage entering the seventh inning of their North Coast Section Division I playoff game.
What followed was madness.
The visitors exploded for six runs to tie the score, but top-seeded De La Salle packed the last punch, scoring one in the home half of the seventh to escape the opening round with an 11-10 victory.
Austin Grove's single to center with one out and the bases loaded drove in Nash Beckman with the game-ending run.
De La Salle advanced to play at home Friday against eighth-seeded Novato in the quarterfinals.
Heritage finished 16-8-1.
This one didn't come close to matching the script that Schlicht had written all spring. The senior had not allowed a run in 49 innings this season and 62 innings dating to last season.
In his last start, he broke the state record for consecutive scoreless innings, which stood at 59 ⅓ for eight years, according to data kept by Cal-Hi Sports.
Schlicht gave up a run in the first inning Tuesday before De La Salle recorded an out. Heritage added another run in the second and one more in the fourth.
De La Salle (19-4) scored four in the third to erase a one-run deficit and added two in the fourth.
After six innings, the Spartans led 10-4.
Then Heritage, champion of the Bay Valley Athletic League, dialed up one epic rally to push the champs to the brink.
But the rally wasn't enough to prevent elimination.
Ben Hayden knocked in three runs and Zach Tchejeyan, Brandon Manivong and Jacob Gray each had two RBIs for De La Salle. Emmet Freeman added three hits and scored three runs.
JZ McArthur had three hits, including a double, and three RBIs, Logan Nelson homered and doubled and Tyler Williams doubled and drove in two runs for Heritage.
Schlicht's pitching line: Five innings, six hits, three earned runs, eight strikeouts, two walks.
No. 2 Clayton Valley Charter 6, No. 15 Dublin 3: Tavion Stafford went 3 for 4 and Michael Walton drove in two runs to lead the Ugly Eagles to a first-round win at home in Concord.
Clayton Valley built a 4-1 lead through three innings and widened the advantage to 6-2 after five frames.
The Ugly Eagles (22-3) will play at home against Monte Vista or Liberty on Friday.
Dublin finished 17-8.
No. 14 Alhambra 3, No. 3 College Park 1:Alhambra (15-9) knocked off College Park (19-6) in the upset of the day, thanks to a strong pitching performance from Ali Cepeda Jr., who allowed a run and three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
Shane Cowperthwaite shut the door in the late innings with two shutout frames. The Bulldogs' offense came through in the sixth with a pair of runs to provide the margin of victory.
Ismael Rivera-Parra drove in Alhambra’s first run with a single. Cowperthwaite's sacrifice bunt scored the first run in the sixth, and Jovani Preston doubled to center to score the final run.
Nicholas Motta accounted for College Park's lone run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
No. 7 Monte Vista 3, No. 10 Liberty 3 (postponed): After 11 innings, these two East Bay heavyweights were unable to finish an intense first-round matchup because of darkness.
Liberty athletic director Jon Heinz told the Bay Area News Group that the game will be resumed on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Monte Vista.
Liberty tied the score at 3 in the top of the sixth when junior Chayce Formosa hit an RBI single to right field that drove in Levi Johnson. Monte Vista scored all three of its runs in the second inning.
No. 8 Novato 2, No. 9 Foothill 1: There will be no rematch between Foothill and De La Salle on Friday after host Novato held on for a tense victory over its visitors from Pleasanton.
Foothill, the only team to beat DLS on the field this season, scored in the sixth to cut the deficit in half but couldn't find the equalizer.
Aiden Tavares drove in Foothill's only run. Ben Cleary's two-run homer in the fourth accounted for all the offense Novato needed.
Griffin Vorhaus pitched six innings of one-run ball for Novato.
No. 13 Petaluma 7, No. 4 Berkeley 4: Berkeley's dream season has ended.
Despite rallying to get back into the game after falling three runs behind in the third inning, the Yellowjackets lost at home.
Junior Quinton Hill led Berkeley, going 2-for-3 and knocking in a run. Miles Mino and Enrique Sotelo also had an RBI.
Berkeley ended its season 21-5-1, its best finish since 2018. The Yellowjackets also won the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division title.
No. 5 Redwood 5, No. 12 Campolindo 4: Colby Webster and Max Olson each had two hits for Campolindo, but that wasn't enough to beat Redwood in a first-round game.
The hosts took the lead with two in the fourth and stretched the advantage to two with another run in the fifth.
Campo (14-9) scored in the sixth to cut the margin to one, but Redwood (23-3-1) held on to advance to play at home against 13th-seeded Petaluma on Friday.
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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 11:41 PM.