The hard-knocking Chabot baseball team enjoyed a tremendous season advancing to the state's elite eight, or the 3C2A NorCal Regional Finals. The big run finally ended when the Gladiators dropped a best-of-three series against West Valley last weekend, two games to one.
The Glads, seeded No. 7 for the Regionals, rebounded from an 8-3 Game 1 loss at No. 3 West Valley with a thrilling 8-7 triumph. West Valley prevailed 12-2 in the finale.
Chabot freshman sensation TJ Costello, a former three-sport athlete at Dublin High, relished the big moments down the stretch. He crushed the ball in the playoffs.
"I thought we had a very good season, we accomplished a lot," Costello, a third baseman, said Monday, sounding like a leader. "I'm very proud of us, to be honest."
In a season of thrills, landmarks, and monster rallies, Chabot (34-13) and Skyline were co-champions of the Coast-North Conference, marking the Glads' second consecutive conference title, this time under head coach Paul Wiebens, a former Chabot assistant. The Glads were almost unbeatable at home, going 21-3 and just 11-10 away.
After conference play, Chabot swept a pair against Merced in Round 1 of the regionals, 6-5, 4-1. Next, as the top seed and host in the Super Regionals, Chabot bested Santa Rosa JC and Cabrillo in a double-elimination format to advance to the Regional Finals. In the clincher, Chabot walloped Cabrillo 11-4 as Costello hit a two-run homer in the first inning and three-run triple in the eighth, and sophomore Emmitt Phinney doubled, singled, and drove in three.
In the aftermath, Wiebens commented on X: GLADIATORS ARE IN THE ELITE 8!!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
Costello and his teammates don't shy away from the moment.
"Whenever you're in a win-or-go-home game you always want to leave your mark," he said.
In the Game 2 win over West Valley on Saturday, the Glads rode the durable arm of University of Memphis commit Isaac Lucas (W, 9-5), who allowed three earned runs and struck out nine over seven innings. Versatile Will Aviles came in for the save.
Chabot held on after taking an 8-3 lead with all their runs coming in the third-through-sixth innings. After the Vikings took an early 2-0 lead, the Glads got one back on a Raoul Fabian Jr. RBI double to left. Daniel Behrmann hit an RBI double and scored on a wild pitch to put Chabot up, 3-2, in the third. After West Valley tied it, Carmelo Rivera put Chabot ahead to stay on an RBI single to right, scoring Phinney.
Chabot struck for two in both the fifth and the sixth and led 8-3. In the fifth, Costello belted a two-run home run to left. In the sixth, Liam Forsyth doubled in a run and Fabian Jr. had an RBI single to center.
West Valley made it interesting with one in the eighth and two in the ninth, but Chabot held on for the clutch win.
Overall, Phinney led the Glads in batting average at .376 and home runs with 11, ranking No. 3 in conference in both categories. Lucas, a freshman left-hander, led the conference in wins with nine and strikeouts by a wide margin with 106; and was No. 2 in ERA at 2.91. Dan Hernandez was No. 3 in ERA at 3.38. Fabian Jr. was No. 2 in stolen bases with 28, and Behrmann had 23 base thefts.