El Camino Real’s Boldt Tough Nut to Crack, 6-4

For high drama, one would be hard-pressed to find a better package than El Camino Real High’s 6-4 squeaker over host San Fernando in a Northwest Valley Conference baseball game Thursday.

But for Sean Boldt and Richard Sanchez, it was just another act in a long-running show. Boldt, a pitcher for El Camino Real (8-0-1), The Times’ top-ranked team in the region, and Sanchez, a senior third baseman for fifth-ranked San Fernando, met once again in tense competition, as they have been doing since their Little League days.

“I’ve been going one-on-one against him since I was 10,” Boldt said.

This time it was Boldt winning the battle of one-upmanship. He retired Sanchez twice in the final three innings--including the game’s final out--to seal his first save of the year and make a winner of starter Ryan McGuire (3-0).

What made this latest confrontation between the longtime rivals more memorable were the circumstances: Two of the City Section’s top teams locked in a give-and-take game for the second time in three days. And when McGuire, pitching with a slightly aggravated hamstring, tired in the fifth, Boldt got his first call of the year.

Boldt, a junior right-hander who was trying to protect a one-run lead, found the bases loaded, two out and Sanchez staring at him. Sanchez came to bat with eight hits in his last nine tries, a conference-leading 24 hits and a .543 batting average.

“I was fully aware of that,” Boldt said. “We had it on our charts.”

Familiarity, then, bred relaxation for Boldt, who coaxed Sanchez into ending the inning--albeit on a stinging line drive to center fielder Jeff Marks.

Then, with Tigers at first and third in the seventh, McGuire threw his body in front of Sanchez’s sharp, two-out grounder to first base, and, from his knees, fired a line drive to Boldt who beat Sanchez to the bag as the base flew into the air from the impact of colliding feet.

For a time, it did not appear as if El Camino Real would need Boldt’s heroics. With the score tied, 1-1, in the third inning, the Conquistadores touched Hector De La Cruz (2-2) for four runs and a 5-1 lead. Pat Treend had a run-scoring double, Greg Lederman hit an RBI single and Gregg Sheren ripped a two-run double into the gap in left-center.

San Fernando (8-3-2, 5-3-1) chipped away, however, scoring once in the third on Adrian Diaz’s double and twice in the fourth on a Carlos Rodriguez double and a McGuire balk with a runner on third.

El Camino Real scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh to account for the final score.