EUGENE – Back in the fall after tearing his meniscus, a moment like Saturday at PK Park in Eugene didn’t seem likely for Central junior Joe Mendazona.
Pitching for the No. 6 Panthers in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A baseball state championship game against No. 8 Thurston was indeed Mendazona after he joined the team at the end of April after recovering from his knee surgery.
And all the junior did was throw the fourth no-hitter in OSAA state title game history.
Along the way, Mendazona picked up 14 strikeouts to four walks to lead Central to its third state title in program history and first since 2019 (the other was 1958) with the 7-0 victory over the Colts.
“I really just expected to come in today and compete,” Mendazona said. “I only played 45% of the year because I was out with a knee injury from football. … When you’re out there not thinking and playing the game and having fun, you’re going to do good things.”
The last no-hitter in a title game was in 2014 when Henley’s Jon Guzman blanked Sisters in a 10-0 victory for the Hornets. The other two were Waldport’s Nick Field in 1978 in five innings over Condon and Newport’s John Wheeler over Riddle in 1965.
Mendazona touched as high as 93 mph on his fastball while working in plenty of sliders, not needing to go to a third pitch in his changeup as the Thurston hitters were off line all afternoon.
“Wow is all I can say,” Central head coach Ben Kramer said of the no-hitter. “I wish I could say I was more surprised in the moment. It’s just a testament to who he is as an athlete, as a human being. The way he goes about his business, the preparation that he does, he’s earned this moment.”
Mendazona started it off the best way possible, striking out the side in order in the top of the first.
Parker Edwards was the starter for the Colts, and he got a big assist in the bottom of the first when right fielder Levi Woodman made a diving catch toward the foul line on what would have likely been a triple. That catch ended the first.
A walk was all Mendazona gave up in the top of the second, setting up for his Panthers to break the game open in the bottom half.
Juniors Santi Alarcon and Jackson Barba both singled up the middle to begin the frame for Central, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Owen Petrone to put runners on second and third with one out.
Sophomore Tyler Olafson sent a fly ball to left field, scoring Alarcon on the sac fly. Barba moved to third a couple pitches later on a wild pitch, then scored when junior Easton Herbert lined a single to right field for the RBI.
“It’s massive in a game like this,” Kramer said of plating two early runs in the second. “Thurston, give them a ton of credit, they’re well coached. Edwards on the mound is really tough so to be able to break through in the second and get a couple, it just opens up more things in the offense for us, especially with the way Joe was throwing the baseball today.”
Mendazona came right back and induced two foul pop outs to the first baseman with a strikeout in between to sit Thurston down quickly and preserve the 2-0 lead.
The bottom half of the third is where the game broke open on offense for Central, starting with a leadoff walk for Mendazona, followed by a single from junior Josh Fitts that fell between the centerfielder and shortstop.
A wild pitch put them on second and third, and junior JT Girod came through with a single to left field to score one and make it 3-0 Central. Alarcon laid down a bunt and Fitts slid into home safe as the toss from Edwards halfway between the mound and home was too late, 4-0 Panthers.
Barba laid down a bunt on the next at bat and reached as it rolled perfectly down the first base side, loading the bases with no outs. Petrone hit a grounder to short, but a drop on the throw home by the catcher allowed a fifth run to score.
Olafson drove another ball to the outfield for a second sac fly, scoring the last run of the inning and putting the Panthers ahead with a commanding 6-0 lead.
“I had trust in my team the whole way,” Mendazona said of the run support. “The bond that we have on this team is like no other. We’re going to dominate from now on, we only have one senior as well.”
To make matters worse for Thurston, the Colts lost Oregon State commit third baseman Grady Saunders in the third inning on a non-contact injury. Saunders took a couple steps trying to catch a softly hit foul ball, but quickly fell to the ground with an apparent left leg injury. He came out of the game and didn’t return.
In the top of the fourth, the Colts led off with a walk, but a flyout, groundout and strikeout ended any chance of a bounce back run.
Central went quiet in the fourth and then Mendazona struck out the side again in the top of the fifth, two looking and one swinging.
In the top of the sixth, Mendazona walked two batters to put two on with one out, but got a flyout to right and his 11th K of the day to end the Colts’ best chance at runs all day.
“We knew he was going to dominate for sure,” Alarcon said. “But I can’t believe it, great ballplayer, throwing like crazy. He’s a guy for sure.”
Alarcon came up big in the bottom of the sixth as well. After Thurston intentionally walked Girod to put runners on first and second with two outs, Alarcon came up with his third hit of the day on a single to center to plate a run, his second RBI of the game.
“Incredible, getting us started offensively for sure and even tacking on that last one is huge, just to continue to have momentum for Joe going into that last inning on defense,” Kramer said of Alarcon’s performance. “I can’t say enough about Santi at the plate. We had our struggles at different points throughout the year offensively and these playoffs, he’s just been so laser focused on his plan and his approach, and it pays off in the biggest game.”
With 90 pitches, meaning he was 20 away from the limit, Mendazona didn’t have much room for error in the top of the seventh if he wanted to finish out the no-hitter.
He got the first batter to strikeout on five pitches, then the next two both got to full counts. But both of those batters met the same fate of a looking strikeout, finishing the no-hitter and giving Mendazona 14 strikeouts.
“No I didn’t,” Mendazona said when asked if he knew his pitch count going into the seventh. “That’s the highest I’ve gone all year.”
Alarcon finished 3-for-4 with two RBI while Girod was 2-for-3 with a RBI. Barba went 2-for-4 and Olafson had two RBI on two sac flies. Central had 10 total hits as a team.
For Thurston, Edwards finished pitching two innings with six runs allowed, four earned, on six hits with two Ks and one walk. Sophomore Brody Corgain came in to pitch and did well, throwing four innings with one run allowed on one hit with one strikeout and one walk.
For Alarcon and Girod, winning the title was a bit of deja vu as they both had older brothers on the 2019 Central state championship team in Emiliano Alarcon and Justin Girod.
“The love all those guys had for each other and they would stick up for each other every day,” Alarcon said of the lessons learned from the 2019 squad. “They just had great chemistry and that’s what we wanted.”
But the day belonged to Mendazona who goes down in the record books with his no-hitter, capping a stellar half of a season.
“It was a game-changer,” Alarcon said of Mendazona’s return halfway through the season. “We were counting on him most games and he came to play. He was our best guy pretty much.”
“It’s one of those deals where you can’t really put it into words, but just the way everybody carries themselves as a team can change with one guy,” Kramer said of Mendazona’s return. “They didn’t change much at the beginning, we just had to find new ways to win at the beginning of the year and we were a dang good team. Then we added Joe and it was like, ‘Wow, we could be really special.’”
Kramer was able to avoid most of the customary ice bath after the win, saying it was about the only time his team missed all day.
But something they won’t ever miss is the feeling of walking off PK Park as a state champions to a greeting from the packed Central Panthers crowd cheering them on.
“We wanted to win every game, we were kind of the underdogs, no one really thought we were going to win,” Alarcon said. “Our community, they come for everything. It doesn’t matter, they’re always going to be here to support us and that’s what we love, it’s a great community we’re in.”
“Panther nation travels well, they are incredible,” Kramer said. “What an atmosphere, what a game and couldn’t be more proud to be a Panther today.”
austinw@osaa.org
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