MORAGA, Calif. -
Diego Castellanos played hero for Saint Mary's Tuesday evening with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Gaels the 5-4 victory over San Jose State, their fifth straight win. Three lead changes and a run in the eighth for the Spartans would knot the game at four heading into the ninth.
John Damozonio recorded two big punchouts to complete the top of the ninth and give the Gaels a chance to walk it off.
Castellanos led things off in a dangerous part of the order featuring three straight lefties in Castellanos, Kashimoto and Griffith. On the 1-1 pitch, Castellanos would stay inside the baseball and hit a carrying fly ball to deep left field. The sophomore right fielder would watch the ball continue to carry as it eventually flew into the netting behind the left field fence to give his team the thrilling 5-4 walk-off win. Castellanos was hitless before that at-bat but it didn't matter, recording his third home run of the season and his first career walk-off.
After a quick departure from the Gaels starter, the bullpen stepped up allowing just two runs over the next seven and a third innings. Junior right hander
John Damozonio would help complete the eighth and retire the Spartans in order in the ninth to set up the walk-off scenario. As a result, Damozonio would get credit for just his second career win in his three seasons as a Gael.
Cody Kashimoto was 2-for-4 at the top of the lineup and designated hitter
Aiden Taurek was 2-for-2 with a pair of ribbies.
Senior lefty
Dylan Delvecchio made his third start of the season as he has started to solidify himself as the team's midweek starter. Delvecchio struck out a season high six batters but failed to get out of the third inning, allowing four walks. A two-run single in the third would put San Jose State on top 2-1 and eventually bump Delvecchio from the game. Freshman
Diego Emerling helped get the Gaels through the fifth keeping it a one-run game.
5TH INNING
To start the fifth,
Aiden Taurek would take the second pitch he saw to deep left field for his first homer of the season and third of his career. Taurek has arguably been the team's most consistent hitter with 15 hits on the season, four doubles and nine RBI.
Later in the inning,
Cody Kashimoto would rifle the first pitch he saw into center field to score Gaels shortstop
Jared Mettam from second to give Saint Mary's a 3-2 lead. The two-out knock was made possible after Mettam worked a seven-pitch walk and got to second on a sac bunt from
Ian Armstrong.
8TH INNING
Both teams would trade runs in the sixth as the Gaels held a 4-3 lead into the eighth inning. Veteran right hander
Adam Enyart replaced Emerling back in the sixth but got into trouble to start the eighth. After a leadoff single from the Spartans, the next batter would show bunt early in the at-bat in an attempt to put down the sacrifice. The early show seemed to disrupt Enyart as he stopped his pitching motion and was called for a balk.
Now with a runner on second, Enyart would induce a ground ball on the same batter but the throw over to first would pop out of
Eddie Madrigal's glove to put runners on the corners with no outs. Put between a rock and a hard place, Enyart would fire into the strike zone and induce a 4-6-3 double play on the first pitch, allowing a run to come home but clearing the bases. Damozonio would replace Enyart for the final out but not before San Jose State tied the game at four.
Saint Mary's would load the bases in the bottom half of the inning but Armstrong would fly out to right to end the threat and move the game into the ninth knotted at four.
9TH INNING
Damozonio would come back out for the ninth and retire all three Spartan hitters on just 13 pitches including two huge strikeouts. Damozonio won the seven-pitch battle to strikeout the final batter looking to give the Gaels energy and momentum, with a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth.
The San Jose State pitching staff had their work cutout for them with 9-1-2 due up for the Gaels, featuring three straight lefties. Castellanos would head to the plate first but had no intentions of letting the game go on any further. Castellanos would take the 1-1 pitch to the opposite field and smash his third homer of the season to walk it off and give Saint Mary's the dramatic 5-4 victory.
It's been quite the sophomore season for Castellanos, after playing in just eight games in 2024, he has started all 13 games this season and leads the team with a .386 batting average, 17 hits and now three homers. He has been an absolute menace out of the nine spot with his ability to turn the lineup over and hit to all fields.
Kashimoto was 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot along with an RBI single back in the fifth.
Aiden Taurek was also 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored on the day while
Jared Mettam added two hits of his own including the games first run back in the second.
Saint Mary's extends their win streak to five games and now has a dominant 8-1 home record at Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium. They will hit the road this weekend for four games, one against UNLV and then a three-game set with Utah Tech for the first meeting between the two in program history.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improved to 9-4 on the season thanks to the Castellanos walk-off homer in the ninth, extending their win streak to five games. They will head to Utah for four games, one with UNLV on Friday followed by a three-game series with Utah Tech. Additional game information and links can be found at smcgaels.com.
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