NorCal DV baseball: Edmonds' two homers lift Pacific Grove into finals

OAKLAND — Brody Edmonds was in a full sprint rounding first base, unsure where his drive was going to land.

Halfway to second base, the Pacific Grove center fielder took the foot off the gas, relishing a rare achievement of circling the bases for the second time Thursday in the Oakland hills.

“I had no clue it was going to leave the park,” Edmonds said. “I was running hard, thinking, get to second base. When it cleared the fence, I slowed down and soaked it in. It felt like a dream.”

For someone whose life was turned upside down 10 months ago after breaking his throwing arm pitching on a summer team two days after committing to Santa Clara University on a baseball scholarship, Edmonds has earned this moment.

The Breakers are headed to the Northern California Division V title game, using Edmond’s second homer of the game in the seventh inning to pull away with a 9-3 win over No. 2 seed Skyline of Oakland.

Owners of a 10-game improvement in the win column this year, the Central Coast Section champion Breakers will travel to top seed Minarets of O’Neal in Madera County on Saturday at 4 p.m., where temperatures are expected to be in the mid-90s.

“We know some coaches in the Valley,” Pacific Grove coach Craig Bell said. “It is our job as coaches to prepare them. We don’t care who we’re playing. It’s about us playing our game. We look at opponents as faceless.”

Minarets, which is 32 miles east of Fresno, beat Roosevelt 5-4 for its 10th straight win. Champions of the SAC Joaquin Section, it has scored 100 runs during its current winning streak.

“We can’t let the moment get too big,” said Edmonds, who missed the football and basketball seasons because of the injury. “We’ve mostly focused on the next one. When you’re having fun, that’s when you are playing your best baseball.”

Seeded No. 3 in the tournament, Pacific Grove (19-10) is 5-0 in the postseason, having outscored its first two opponents in the state tournament 19-6. Three of its five wins in the playoffs have come against higher-seeded teams.

“It took a full season for it to click,” Bell said. “These kids have put in the work. This group plays for each other. We’re getting better each week. But we still haven’t played our best game. We still haven’t clicked on every cylinder.”

What the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Mission Division runner-ups have made a habit out of in the postseason is turning games in doubt into routs in the latter innings, scoring four runs in the seventh against Skyline.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinal meeting with Urban of San Francisco, Pacific Grove put up six runs in the sixth inning in a 10-3 win. And it put a five-spot on top-seed Gunn in the CCS semifinals in the sixth inning.

“Their job is just to get the next guy up,” said Bell, who has led Pacific Grove to improvement in the win column four straight years. “It’s weird how it works you when you play unselfish baseball.”

Edmonds has put together a big postseason, having driven in nine runs in five games, including five with his two homers Thursday against Skyline.

“I’ve never hit two homers in a game,” said Edmonds, who will resume pitching in July at Santa Clara. “It was pretty surreal. But I kept thinking it’s not over yet. We still had another inning.”

Both of Edmond’s homers came on fastballs, with the first blast in the second inning coming on a 3-1 count. His second homer was also on a hitters’ count.

“It was right down the middle,” Edmonds said.

Getting four strong innings for Taj Davis on the mound, Bell put the ball into the hands of Edmonds’ younger brother Charlie, who hurled three innings, taming the Skyline bats.

“Our pitching has been outstanding,” Bell said. “We brought back Gil Ruiz to work with our pitchers. Our staff is really starting to jell. We’ve got eight guys we feel are pitching well.”

Immediately after the game, attention turned towards Minarets, as the Breakers attempt to become the first county baseball team to bring home a Northern California title.

“The first topic after the game was one more to go,” Edmonds said. “Keep executing pitches, play defense and grind out at-bats.”

Andrew Jeska added two more hits for Pacific Grove, giving him five in two postseason games, while Isaac Sanchez delivered a sacrifice fly.

“None of us want this to end,” Bell said. “But we know it will on Saturday. We know it’s our last time together. We’re all working toward the same goal.”

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 10:47 PM.