San Benito varsity player Brian Haggett tries to turn a double play against the alumni team Saturday night at the PJ Galvan Alumni Classic in Hollister. The alumni won the game, 7-5.
Admittedly not a power hitter, Nick Ramos was best friends with PJ Galvan growing up.
And maybe, just maybe, Galvan helped push Ramos' eighth-inning blast over the left field wall.
"When I hit it, I automatically thought of him," said Ramos at the fifth annual PJ Galvan Alumni Classic on Saturday night. "This is all for PJ. This is why we came out. This was his favorite place."
Galvan, born one day after Ramos, was tragically killed in a car accident in 2003. Five years later, San Benito High School alumni come out to the Babe Ruth fields at Veterans Memorial Park in Hollister every year and battle the current varsity baseball team, all in a sign of support for the former Haybaler.
Ramos' without-a-doubt homer in the eighth tacked on an insurance run for the alumni team, which defeated the varsity 7-5.
After rounding the bases, Ramos, SBHS class of '03, stepped on home plate and pointed one finger to the heavens.
"For the man up top. You know he's looking down on us," said Ramos, who attends Sonoma State and plays on the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox. "He probably helped me on it. I don't have much power.
"But right when I hit it, I thought of him. That's my boy."
The Alumni Classic is a fund-raiser, with all the proceeds going to the memorial scholarship in Galvan's name, as well as to the SBHS baseball program.
Haybaler Abel Jacquez was this year's recipient of the scholarship.
With the alumni team calling the Galvan classic their own since its inception, winning every year but one, Saturday night was no different.
Former 'Baler Brian Rossi broke the game open in the first inning, connecting on a two-run single, while the alumni team plated four more in the fourth to make it 6-0 early.
Before it got out of hand, though, the varsity team cut the deficit to just one run when Brian Haggett hit a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs to make it 6-5.
After Ramos' solo homer in the eighth gave the alumni a two-run cushion, the varsity team loaded the bases with just one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but couldn't plate the tying run.
"That's exactly what we we're looking for," said alumni coach Nick Gonzales, class of '04. "We wanted a quick, close ball game. Everybody had a good time.
"But it's to honor [Galvan]. He was a big part of our life in baseball."
Although the game was competitive, it also took on a laid-back feel as well.
At one point in the game, incoming senior Steve Cabral stole second base after a pitch was thrown in the dirt. Standing at second safely now, Cabral was told by the alumni middle infielders that it was a foul ball.
Trotting back to first base, Cabral was tagged out. The umpires present held up their hands in confusion, then gave the appropriate "out" call.
Later, pitcher Zach Canez delivered a two-strike underhand-style throw to Rossi, who ripped it into center field for a single.
"We were just out there having a good time," said varsity coach Michael Luna, who likened the event to almost a sandlot pick-up game. "I'm sure [Galvan] would have enjoyed the event."
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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Students warm up for school
