Clovis High sends retiring baseball coach James Patrick into section final in improbable way
The Clovis High baseball team gave retiring coach James Patrick one last game when it rallied for a 7-5 win Wednesday at San Luis Obispo High in the Central Section semifinals.
Patrick will go for his 10th section championship Saturday night in the Division I final against No. 8 Frontier. Game time at Beiden Field is approximately 8 p.m.
Patrick announced that he’s retiring after 34 seasons as a coach. His record is 755-272-3 in two seasons at San Joaquin Memorial (1983-1984) and 32 at Clovis (1988-2019), according to section historian Bob Barnett.
His sixth-seeded Cougars (19-11) made an improbable comeback to beat the host No. 2 Tigers on Wednesday. Trailing 5-3 in the sixth inning, Clovis tied it on an RBI groundout by 6-foot-4 power hitter Noah Beal and a run-scoring wild pitch – both off left-hander Cooper Benson, an Arizona State recruit.
Then in the seventh Justin Tiger hit a two-out RBI single and Benson threw another run-scoring wild pitch. Miles Henderson closed it out with a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning.
Frontier advanced with a 2-1 win over No. 4 Righetti in 11 innings as daylight faded. Kris Anglin, who pitched a one-hitter against top-seeded Buchanan in the quarterfinals, threw the last two innings for Frontier.
Sanger into section final
In Division II, No. 2 Sanger shut out No. 3 Fresno 5-0 to send the Apaches into Friday night’s final against No. 1 San Joaquin Memorial, the defending champion which ousted No. 4 Porterville 9-4.
Sanger (22-6-1) beat Memorial (26-5) in two of three meetings during the County/Metro Athletic Conference season. Sanger won the first two 8-6 and 3-1 before Memorial’s 6-5 win April 11 that ultimately propelled the Panthers to the CMAC title by one game over the Apaches.
Other highlights
▪ Chowchilla didn’t get a hit until the sixth but turned a two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh into a 1-0 win over Fowler and a berth in the D-IV final.
▪ Top-seeded Minarets and No. 2 Liberty-Madera Ranchos will meet in the D-V final. On the way to winning the 2018 championship, Liberty blasted top-seeded Minarets 17-0 in the semifinals.
This story was originally published May 15, 2019 at 7:26 PM.
