Bostjancic, Pirates Shoot For Spot in MCAL Finals

When his baseball team takes on San Marin High on Friday night for a spot in the Marin County Athletic League playoffs finals, coach is hoping to avoid that one bad inning.

That was the difference between splitting games with the powerful Mustangs or possibly sweeping them when the teams met twice in the regular season.

Friday’s matchup in the MCAL semifinals is slated for Albert Park in San Rafael at 7:30 p.m.

The Pirates handled San Marin quite handily early in the MCAL season March 8, jumping out in front quickly in a dominating 6-2 win.

The rematch April 8 was much closer, with Drake trailing just 2-1 until walks and errors contributed big-time to a game-changing, four-run uprising that propelled San Marin to a 6-1 win.

“We’ve got to pitch the ball well. They’re a strong hitting team,” Farb said, announcing that will get the start on the mound.

“We’ve got to make them hit to beat us and let our defense make plays. When we’ve forced contact this year, we’ve been very successful. Where we’ve gotten into trouble is when we’ve walked somebody or made an error.”

Bostjancic and provided a majority of the offense in Drake’s quarterfinal 6-0 win over Tam on Wednesday. Vergara also had a three-RBI game in the first meeting with San Marin.

Farb believes his guys are ready for the challenge of taking on a team that won 14 games in a row at one point this season.

“There’s something about this baseball program,” he assured. “We’ve been through a lot this year. We had a whole lot of middle infielders down to injuries. In some ways, that brought the team together.

“We’re starting to swing the bat very well. We played our sharpest game of the year (against Tam). We had a tremendous amount of energy going into that game.”

While Drake has played a game already this week, San Marin had a bye. Farb isn't sure either team has gained an advantage.

We’re talking about the first or second game in a week," he said. "That only shows its head when you get deep into that third game."

The Pirates can only hope to experience that third game Saturday night.