Baseball Team Wins Condor Championship and #1 Seed at CIF

Wednesday, April 27th - The Dunn baseball team traveled to Carpinteria to play Cate in a pivotal Condor League. Both teams entered the game with 6-0 records in the Condor League and Cate entered the game as the #1 ranked Division VII baseball team in the CIF-Southern Section with an 11-0 overall record. Senior Joe Eisaguirre shut down the Cate offense for the first four innings, helped by outstanding defense from third baseman Corbin Meyer who recorded six outs on the day. The Earwigs built a 6-0 lead on offense before Cate mounted a comeback in the fifth inning. The inning saw several infield hits and two walks and Cate had clawed its way back into the game 6-4. After the Earwigs put another run on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 7-4, Cate scored two more runs to make the score 7-6 going into the final frame. Freshman Ryan Layton gave up a single in the bottom of the seventh with one out, but struck out the final two Cate hitters to preserve the victory and hand Cate their first lost and give Dunn the Condor League lead in front of many nervous Dunn parents.

Saturday, April 30th - After a close 7-6 victory earlier in the week, the Earwigs hosted the Rams in another key Condor League game. A victory would give Dunn the outright Condor League championship and a Cate win would mean sharing the title. In front of about 100 alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and friends of Dunn School, the Earwig baseball team put on a show. Freshman left-handed pitcher Ryan Layton pitched five shutout innings and the offense led by freshman Bryce McKibbin (2 hits and a stolen base) built a 6-0 lead through the first five innings. Freshmen Jake Eisaguirre brought the crowd to its feet with an amazing diving catch to record the third out in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. However, Cate battled back in the top of the sixth inning with five runs on two hits, three walks, a hit batsman and an error. With the bases loaded and no outs, McKibbin was able to get out of the jam with the Earwigs still on top 6-5. In the top of the seventh inning, the lead runner got on for Cate School. With one out and the tying runner on second base, Cody Boal made one of the top defensive plays of the year by going back on a deep fly ball that he caught just in front of the center field wall for the second out of the inning. After a walk and a passed ball, Cate had runners on second and third base. After many foul balls, McKibbin was able to get Cate's batter to fly out to Joe Eisaguirre at shortstop to end the game. The victory assured Dunn the outright Condor League championship with an 8-0 Condor League record and an overall record of 9-3. On May 2, the new CIF-SS polls came out and Dunn is now ranked #5 in Division VII, while Cate dropped to #8. Dunn is assured a #1 seed and a home game for playoffs which are scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 19th.