BASEBALL: Colts Secure Outright PAL Bay Crown

The El Camino High baseball team celebrated as a 10-run inning gave the Colts the cushion they needed to clinch the outright Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title with a 13-0 win at Terra Nova on Wednesday.

“The players showed a lot of emotion,” said El Camino coach Carlos Roman, whose team secured its first-ever championship in the PAL’s top divison. “(There was) a lot of poise from our guys.”

Clinching the Bay relieves some of the pressure for Friday’s regular-season finale against Terra Nova, but El Camino still has something to play for.

“There is still a race for seeding purposes (in the Central Coast Section playoffs),” Roman said. “We owe it to the rest of the league to play hard to win.

“(El Camino winning) means a lot to somebody.”

A 10-run fifth inning broke the game open, but it was a Tyler Rios bunt in the third that got the scoring going.

With one out and runners on first and third, Rios bunted the ball in between the pitcher and shortstop, allowing the runner on third to score.

Emiliano Rios, who was called up from the JV team last week, hit a grand slam as part of the fifth-inning explosion and finished 2-for-2.

Once again, pitcher Justin Eclavea (7-2) remained “unflappable.” Eclavea threw a complete game, scattering five hits over 103 pitches for his first shutout of the season.

“(He’s) not a thrower, he’s a pitcher,” Roman said.

El Camino’s probable starter on Friday, Steve Knudson, has gotten better as the season has progressed and had his best outing last Friday at Aragon. The right-hander threw a complete game and allowed only one run on four hits.

Following the finale against Terra Nova, El Camino awaits its seed in the CCS playoffs. The brackets will be announced on Saturday, and the first round begins on May 18-19. The Colts fell in the first round of the Division II playoffs last season.