By Vincent Liu

Town Crier Correspondent

In a regular-season finale that supposedly served to be no more than a tuneup for two teams headed to the Central Coast Section baseball playoffs, Gunn and Wilcox put on a postseason-caliber pitching duel last Friday at Baylands Park.

In the end, the host Titans lost a 1-0 heartbreaker, with the lone run unearned.

One poll has Wilcox, the runaway champion of the SCVAL De Anza Division, ranked No. 1 in the CCS. The Chargers went 17-1 in the division and 30-3 overall. Gunn (11-7 division) finishes second in the De Anza.

In his seventh and possibly final year as Gunn’s baseball coach, Tim Thompson threw his ace Greg Matson at powerhouse Wilcox.

“We’ve never won a game against these guys since I’ve been here,” Thompson before the game. “I’d like to knock them off just once before I leave.”

His wish fell agonizingly short, as failed executions at the plate and bonehead base running took Gunn out of two golden scoring opportunities - and ultimately the ball game.

Chris Hacker led off the Titans’ half of the fifth inning with a single and got thrown out by the catcher on a missed hit-and-run swing.

After Freddy Flaxman doubled to left center, he was held at third on Ricky Navarro’s base hit to the outfield. The next batter, Jon Dishotsky, missed a safety squeeze bunt and a slow retreating Navarro was tagged out in a rundown between home and third.

Three consecutive hits, two outs and kiss the rally goodbye.

Gunn’s self-destruction continued in the next inning.

A two-base throwing error by Wilcox put Justin Shifrin on second base with no outs. Jeff Bradshaw then grounded to shortstop and Shifrin committed the cardinal sin of base running - taking off for third base with the ball in front of him - and was tagged out. Meanwhile, Bradshaw was on his way to second base and was also erased from here to there.

Four happy feet, two outs and kiss the game goodbye.

Matson, limited by a pitch count to preserve him for the post season, hurled five strong innings but suffered his first loss of the season against eight wins. Nevertheless, his ERA of 1.45 entering the contest went even lower as he only gave up a tainted run on an infield error in the second inning.

Wilcox rested its top two pitchers, yet starter Darrel Sales matched Matson and reliever Dishotsky pitch for pitch and out for out. He came within one out of a complete game, requiring only 78 pitches for his four-hit shutout.

Thompson did not feel slighted about not facing the Chargers’ top hurlers.

“We faced a pretty good pitcher today. That kid (Sales) is no chopped liver,” he added, pointing out that Sales earlier recorded a shutout against power-hitting Bellarmine.

For a team that ended the season with two consecutive league losses, Gunn (11-7 in division) can make a good case of feeling confident of its chances in the playoffs.

“Pitching and defense are keys to playoffs. All you need is three good pitchers, and I have them,” Thompson said, referring to Matson, Dishotsky and Ray Hunter.

Matson, limping noticeably with a hamstring pull, shared his coach’s positive outlook.

“I feel pretty good about the playoffs and I should be OK,” he said, referring to his injury.”

The Titans, seeded sixth in Division II, will face No. 11 Los Altos (15-15) in the opening round Thursday. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Baylands.

The Eagles, who finished fourth in the SCVAL El Camino Division, defeated Gunn April 22 and recently knocked off El Camino champ Palo Alto.