Half Moon Bay High School’s college baseball team played two games from a visit to Terra Nova last week. The Cougars defeated the Tigers 14-2 on Thursday and won by loss on April 27th.
The Tigers struck first in Thursday’s Peninsula Athletic League competition, but Cougars’ starter Liam Harrington settled down. He knocked out eight in six innings of work.
Half Moon Bay took the lead on lap three when Coleman Colucci was racing and Tristan Hofmann took a stroll laden with bases. The cougars never looked back.
Two days earlier, Tiger’s coaches decided to lose the game in the second inning after injuring their starting pitcher in the first inning.
Josh Dybalski started on the hill and he was great. He started with three consecutive innings to set the pace. At the end of the third inning, HMB scored the first hit when Coleman Colucci doubled up in Jared Mettam.
Half Moon Bay took the lead at the end of sixth place when Todd Damrosch took the lead with a single and was replaced by Courtesy Runner Ryan Harrington. Harrington had to prove his speed when he crashed past first base. The Cougars thought they had two runs on the game, but Tristan Hofmann was called in to a close game on the home plate.
The Cougars were half way up 3, but Carlmont was unwilling to give up when he beat Half Moon Bay (18-14) in the third game by 37-36 points.
With eight minutes to go, the Cougars decided to stick with what worked. They accelerated the pace through defense and energy. They kept Carlmont at 7 points in the fourth quarter while turning defensive possessions into offensive opportunities and scoring 22 of their own in the fourth quarter.
The Cougars improved to 2-2 on the road. Led by an aggressive defense that hampered Carlmont’s clean looks, Half Moon Bay took an early 18-11 lead.
Carlmont had no field goals and only scored 5 points over the free throw line in the third quarter. Ally Co blocked the Carlmont penetration on consecutive charges. Offensively, 10 Cougars scored a goal as the ball and team were in constant motion.
The superior speed, defense and the rebound of Half Moon Bay were only recognizable in the score in the second half. At this point in time, the Cougars built up a lead of up to 20 points during quick breaks and internal shots. The team switched to 5-1.
The win was an artisanal feat with 44 out of 54 points in the paint, while Carlmont shot just 27 percent.
Half Moon Bay led by 4 to half and then poured it up in the second half to lead by up to 20 in a home game that was the first of five in five days.
The result was highlighted by some determined drives from Drew Dorwin, who finished with 13 points, Sean Kennedy, who had 12 points, including two 3s, and Ben McKnight, who had 9 points and 6 rebounds.
A quick first half ended with a 2-point spread. In the second half, the Cougars’ powerful defenses were combined with a quick and effective attack to prevent the Mustangs from advancing. Half Moon Bay retained the lead, scoring nine goals in the second half. Senior Ren Terwey scored seven goals, Jacob Wyman had four, Kai Guevara had three and there were two each from Wyatt Brians and Bobby Simmons. Jacob Goldstein also met.
Half Moon Bay tried to shake off the rust but couldn’t drop putts all day. Pablo Jaramillo, who scored a 39, followed by Sean Pyle with a 40, were the Cougar medalists.