When Sports Were Played: California wins ’06 title with belt, bounce
California High School players, including Travis VanOlst (10), J.D. Hawk (14), Brandon Rossi (20) and Jason Britton (5), race to home plate after the Trojans’ Zack Jeney hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning May 30, 2006, against Geibel high school. The hit gave California a 5-4 victory and its third WPIAL baseball championship.
Observer-Reporter
Observer-Reporter
Following the final out, California High School pitcher Zack Jeney (6) and shortstop Jason Britton were up in arms over the Trojans’ 5-4 victory over Geibel High School in the 2006 WPIAL Class A baseball championship game.
For today’s “When Sports Were Played” we go back to May 30, 2006, when California won its third WPIAL baseball championship, hitting a tiebreaking home run in the top of the seventh inning to defeat Geibel.
Zack Jeney’s left arm carried the California High School baseball team to the WPIAL Class A baseball championship.
His bat won it.
In one of the biggest swings in the storied history of Trojans baseball, Jeney smashed a one-out, two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning that bounced off and over the top of the centerfield wall at Falconi Field.
The 410-foot blast gave the Trojans a 5-4 lead over rival Geibel. In the bottom of the seventh, Jeney struck out two and got a spectacular play from shortstop Jason Britton in between to preserve the victory and claim California’s third WPIAL baseball championship and second since 2001.
“I was zoned in on a high fastball and that’s what I got,” said Jeney. “I don’t know the last time I hit one like that. When I got out here and saw that 410-foot wall, I thought we’d have to win this game with singles.”
California (17-6) peppered seven singles off gritty Geibel pitcher Jeff Baluch. The Trojans strung together four straight, including a run-producing hit from Jeney, to take a 2-0 lead.
Jeney, often a dominating lefty who ranked among WPIAL leaders in wins and strikeouts throughout the regular season, hardly had his best stuff. The fastball and curveball often stayed high, but Jeney rarely pitched from the stretch.
Geibel (16-6), which split the season series against its Section 1 opponent, put runners on first and second in the second inning with one out. Jeney induced Tyler Charles to fly out to center fielder Brandon Rossi, who earlier made a sensational diving catch to take an extra-base hit away from Dean Lewandowski.
“Brandon Rossi always makes great plays for us,” said California shortstop Jason Britton, the lone senior on the Trojans’ roster.
“When he caught that ball (in the first), I figured this game was destiny.”
Destiny derailed in the bottom of the fifth when the Gators finally got to Jeney. With two outs, five straight Geibel batters reached base. Brandon Noonan belted a RBI double down the left-field line. Baluch and Mario Fragello added run-scoring singles as Geibel took a 4-2 lead.
“Zack wasn’t himself. He wasn’t pitching his A-game,” California coach Don Hartman said. “When he gave up those runs, it was tough. I felt bad for the guy because he’s the guy who got us here. You could see it in his face, he was just heartbroken. But the great thing about baseball is one minute you’re the goat and the next minute you’re the hero.”
For California, the heroes were numerous.
There was Jeney. He went 2-for-4 with three RBI and the game-winning home run. He struck out seven and pitched a five-hitter.
“This is the greatest feeling in the world,” Jeney said.
There was Britton. He went 2-for-4 and reached base three times. Britton started California’s seventh-inning rally with a single and played flawless defense.
“Jason just made phenomenal plays at shortstop,” Hartman said. “He played as well as anybody could possibly play.”
There was Rossi, whose first-inning catch ignited California’s spirits and their sizable following. And there was catcher J.D. Hawk. He hit two singles and scored a run. After California allowed the four runs, Hawk nearly made a diving catch on a foul ball.
“J.D. Hawk would go through that brick wall,” Hartman said. “His hustle showed the kids there was no quit in him, and they weren’t going to quit, either.”
And to think, not even California gave itself much of a chance to win its section at the beginning of the spring.
“This, this is something I would have never thought,” Britton said. “We became a family.”