Paraclete Advances After O’Gara Finds Himself, 5-1

LANCASTER — Paraclete High pitcher Dan O’Gara was nervous, tight and worried about his delivery when he took the mound Friday in a Southern Section Division V playoff game against top-seeded L.A. Baptist.

The senior right-hander needed to find his release point--otherwise the Spirits’ run in the playoffs would end in the quarterfinals.

O’Gara, after pitching himself into a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the first inning, struck out the side.

“I just found my release,” O’Gara said.

Following that discovery, O’Gara mastered the Knights. He pitched a complete game, striking out 12, walking five and allowing five hits to lead Paraclete to a 5-1 victory. The Spirits (14-9), the third-place team from the High Desert League, will play Cerritos Valley Christian in the semifinals Tuesday.

O’Gara opened the game on a shaky note, Bryan Gant, John Wilson and Seth Barkley jamming the basepaths on a walk, a walk and an infield single with No. 4 hitter Josh Highsmith approaching the plate.

After O’Gara threw a fastball by Highsmith for strike three, he got Ed Jung and Peter Dirksen with curves.

O’Gara (9-5) was able to relax after a double by Bill Kneifl in the first and a sacrifice fly in the second by Ben Joyce gave him a 2-0 lead.

Paraclete then took a 4-0 lead after run-scoring singles by David Brown and Dan Parra in the bottom of the third, chasing Knight starter Gant (4-1), a sophomore who had not thrown more than one inning since early April because of arm trouble.

L.A. Baptist Coach Mark Bates could have started freshman Justin Gentile, who struck out six, walked none and allowed two hits and an unearned run on a dropped fly ball in 3 2/3 innings.

“Yeah, it was a toss-up,” Bates said. “But Gant’s a year older and a little more seasoned.”

It didn’t figure to matter, the way L.A. Baptist (23-5) had been scoring runs. The Knights entered the game needing three runs to become the second most-prolific team in section history.

They finished the season with 361 runs, an average of just under 13 a game.

Which was one reason for O’Gara’s pregame discomfort.

“I looked in the paper this morning and saw they were the No. 1 seed and all the runs they were scoring and I got a little nervous,” O’Gara said.

But O’Gara, like the surprising Spirits, answered the call.