De La Salle, Tanner Griffith need nine innings to pull out wild 6-5 NorCal D1 semifinal win over Franklin-Elk Grove

CONCORD, Calif. — Five lead changes plus four ties between two prideful programs equalled one doozy of a high school baseball game at De La Salle High School on Thursday night. 

In the end, Tanner Griffith's single over the head of a drawn in outfield proved the game-winner with one out in the ninth inning giving De La Salle a thoroughly entertaining 6-5 CIF Northern California Division 1 semifinal walk-off win over Franklin-Elk Grove. 

Griffith, the team's leading hitter at .433 with 39 hits, 32 RBI and 39 runs, said it was his first walk-off hit of his high school career. He was mobbed by a sea of green and white jerseys — De La Salle carries a robust 38 on its roster — in a celebration that ended in short left-center field. 

The Spartans (26-4), the defending regional champions, now travel to top seed Valley Christian-San Jose, a 2-1 winner over Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa, in Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game.

Franklin ended its greatest season as Sac-Joaquin Section champions and with a 30-5 record. 

"Being in extra innings of a NorCal game having a chance to walk it off — it's such a great feeling," said Griffith, a St. Mary's College signee. "It's a feeling you can't describe. It's one of the best feelings in the world. You just can't put it into words." 

Between observers and participants, terms such as "fantastic," "remarkable," and "resilient" were used to describe the 3 hour and 20 minute showcase of back-and-forth grit and force between two of California's top teams. 

"We knew coming in that (Franklin) was a very talented team with great pitching, scrappy hitting," said De La Salle starting pitcher RJ Meyn, a Santa Clara signee who left with one out in the seventh after throwing 112 pitches. He allowed seven hits and five runs and struck out six. Reliever Cal Randall worked 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. 

"We knew if we just stuck to our game plan that good things would happen and we just fought to the end — the De La Salle way." 

And it ended like it had the previous 28 playoff games — with a victory. 

The Spartans, the defending regional champion, have won six straight North Coast Section titles and not lost a playoff game since 2016. 

But they've been involved in few quite as competitive and frenzied as this one. 

Like they've done in all seven postseason games this season, the Spartans got their first two batters on to start the game, Smith Chandler and Griffith  — and both scored on an error and infield single by Hank Tripaldi. 

Franklin responded with three runs in the third keyed by a two-run double by Derek Pham and a sacrifice fly from Jason Harris to take a 3-2 lead. 

Obviously the Wildcats we're not intimidated by De La Salle's ranking, history or 38-man roster. 

"Everyone has everyone else's back," said Franklin ace Nic Abraham. "That's the difference between us and everyone else. We're just a family. We do everything for each other. No one is selfish."

The Spartans immediately responded with two in the bottom half on a triple by freshman Tyler Spangler and singles from Chandler and Griffith to go up 4-3.

"There's a bunch of resilience on this team," Meyn said.  

Elk Grove came right back with a run in the fourth on a double by Tim Johnson and RBI single by leadoff man Jordan Lopez to tie it at 4-4. 

 "We give them a lot of credit," De La Salle coach David Jeans said. "They got out of some jams. They came back. They never quit."

After four scoreless at-bats, De La Salle cleanup hitter Connor Harrison, nicknamed 'Bear' and brother of San Francisco Giants top AAA pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, launched a solo homer close to 400 feet over the fence in left in the bottom of the sixth to put De La Salle up 5-4. Harrison leads the team 35 RBI to go along with 39 hits. 

"He sat on the change-up and launched it out of here," Jeans said. "That was a bomb." 

The Wildcats' star first baseman Nolan Stevens, the Delta League Player of the Year and Mississippi State signee, answered with with a solo blast that landed almost in the same spot with one out in the seventh, sending the game to extra innings. 

"We never give up and give in," Abraham said.

In the bottom of the eighth, De La Salle had the Wildcats by the short hairs, finally chasing Abraham, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound ace — after 113 pitches. A passed ball on a strikeout, single and infield error, loaded the bases with nobody out. 

In from the bullpen strutted sophomore Dylan Wood, who promptly recorded.a strikeout, pop out and strikeout to keep Franklin's season alive. 

"That's Dylan," Abraham said. "He's a true pitcher and competitor.  He came in there with bases loaded and nobody out with the game and season on the line. He came out and did it for his team. He did it for his buddies. His family." 

While on the mound and the game on the brink — with both dugouts and the packed grandstands in a frenzy — Wood kept smiling and nodding to ramp up the moment even more. 

It worked and when he came off the mound, he was mobbed by teammates. He broke through them, and with adrenalin still pumping, he opened and slammed the gate behind him. 

The Spartans were more than stunned they didn't end the game right there., Griffith said. 

"A lot of us we're talking there," Griffith said. "Bases loaded, no out, you get that feeling we can get this done. (Wood) did a great job coming in there and getting three outs. Hats off to that guy." 

But sombrero's off to the Spartans for not giving in to Franklin's amplified momentum. 

"That's why you can't get too emotional (In this game)," Jeans said. "It's hard for high school kids. They're 16- and 17-year-olds. They haven't been in these situations. You gotta take it pitch by pitch. You can't get too high or too low. Gotta go next pitch, next pitch, next pitch. ... 

"Yeah they got us out (of bases loaded jam). But we had to go and get them out and it gave us a chance to win." 

Randall, a UCLA commit, gave up a two-out single to Stevens in the ninth, but got Dylan Minnatee out on a ground out to first, to set up De La Salle's game-winning rally in the bottom half. 

Spangler walked and on a 3-2 pitch to Chandler broke for second. The pitch was ball four, but catcher Jaydn Ramos threw the ball down anyway. It went into center field and Chandler sprinted into third. 

That forced Franklin to bring its infield and outfield in. Griffith's smacked a change-up to deep center and Lopez chased after but it fell untouched. 

Bedlam for the Spartans. 

"I just trusted my instincts (on the pitch) and let my hands do the work," Griffith said. 

Said Jeans: "Tanner was a great guy to have up there. He has the 'it' factor. The moment is not going to get too big. He's going to do what we teach him. He's going to hit the ball hard to the middle and that's what he did."

The moment wasn't too big for either team, from start to finish, Jeans said. That's what makes the regional, in its second season, so vital. 

"it's good high school baseball," Jeans said. "It's why you come to De La Salle. It's why we have NorCals. (Franklin) is a great team. Valley Christian and Cardinal Newman are great teams. It's a great thing for high school. So for teams that are opting out. It's not good. We enjoyed this. This is great for everybody." 

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