By the end of his final year of high school baseball, stressful moments were commonplace for Jarron Silva.
But the way he excelled within them, that was anything but common.
Silva, a St. Mary’s senior outfielder, extended or won close games time and time again. He was powerful for a leadoff man, batting .370 with a home run, 13 doubles, five triples and 25 RBI.
Silva posted a .480 on-base percentage, a .630 slugging percentage and 15 stolen bases, to go with a surreal range and glove in center field, and cultivated a veteran presence that propelled a young team to a Tri-City Athletic League championship.
The soon-to-be UCLA Bruin is The Record’s All-Area Player of the Year, after a season full of cinematic moments, torrid base-running and program-boosting leadership.
“In the past couple of years, my role was just trying to produce, and those older guys were always the leaders. This year, with such a young team, was quite a bit different,” said Silva, on the phone Friday morning from Victoria, British Columbia, where he’s playing summer baseball and living with a local host family.
“I just tried to embrace it, and our younger guys were willing to learn.”
Pete Pijl, Silva’s coach when he was a St. Mary’s freshman call-up, is the Coach of the Year after taking Bear Creek to its first San Joaquin Athletic Association title and postseason victory in 15 years. It was Pijl’s first year at the helm of the Bruins.
Silva, 18, was heralded by programs around the area, even those that didn’t face St. Mary’s.
“He’s a stud player,” Franklin coach Gregg Marsh said of Silva. “He’s ready-made for college.”
Pijl’s Bruins led the Rams 3-2 in the seventh inning of their Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South winners’ bracket semifinal. But who else but Silva led off the inning.
The lefty Silva walked, moved to second on a bunt and stole third. The throw to third sailed high, and Silva scampered home to tie the game. In the eighth, Silva drew a bases-loaded walk for the winning RBI.
That was nothing new for Silva, who smashed a bases-clearing triple, and scored on an error, in a comeback win over Tracy during which St. Mary’s trailed by nine runs. Less than two weeks later, Silva tagged a tie-breaking double on the day that St. Mary’s claimed the TCAL outright by beating rival Lincoln on the road.
Silva started slow this season, he said, hitting the ball hard but right at the opposition. It didn’t help that St. Mary’s played its trademark gauntlet preseason schedule — with losses against heavies like Elk Grove, Carmichael-Jesuit and San Mateo-Serra.
Yet, from the beginning of TCAL play through season’s end — a loss to Tracy in the Division I South finals — Silva batted .462 with 17 extra-base hits.
When he had the chance, he showed off his arm from the outfield, like when he earned two assists in one game against West.
Rob Selna, the St. Mary’s head coach the past three seasons, said that without Silva’s poise and maturity, the Rams might’ve suffered from such a massive roster turnover. St. Mary’s, indeed, was a team that started several underclassmen — including sophomores as its No. 3 (Dillon Tatum) and No. 4 (Christian Almanza) hitters.
“He’s a very joyful kid. He laughs, and we have a good time together. But I’ll be honest with you, when it comes to game time, there’s a certain seriousness about him that sets him apart,” Selna said. “Other players see how important it is, and they gravitate to him.”
Silva is spending the summer in a collegiate, wood bat league — the West Coast League in Canada — to fine-tune his skills before heading to UCLA. UCLA has produced several notable big leaguers, including Chase Utley, Brandon Crawford, and of course, hall of famer Jackie Robinson.
“I love the school, it’s been my dream school since I was 10 years old. I remember watching them in the College World Series,” Silva said.
Silva finished his high school career with a .368 batting average, 107 hits, 55 RBI, 27 doubles, 14 triples, two homers and 49 stolen bases.
Pijl lifts upstart Bear Creek
Pijl inherited a Bear Creek program that was already winning. The Bruins were SJAA runners-up in 2015, and competed in the Division I South playoffs.
But Pijl’s fearlessness trickled down to his players, as he guided the Bruins to heights not seen since 2001.
Bear Creek won its first league championship outright, and its first playoff game, in 15 years. And the Bruins had St. Mary’s, a team Pijl coached for 13 years, on the ropes a winners’ bracket game at Pacific.
“Pete was the man. He worked us and that’s what a coach should do,” said Zack Mathis, the Bruins’ first-team All-Area shortstop, in an e-mail. “If he wasn’t our coach, we wouldn’t have won league, because he did things during those games that made us win.
“He kept us in and was as excited as all of us.”
Indeed, Pijl kept the Bruins the aggressors, including bunting with two strikes. That worked, twice in a row, during Bear Creek’s opening-round playoff win over Lodi.
St. Mary’s scrimmaged its former coach Pijl and Bear Creek before the season began, and Selna said their development from February through May was phenomenal. Silva, who played for Pijl briefly as a freshman, respects him mightily.
“Coach Pijl does a wonderful job. He’s one of the best coaches in the area, without a doubt, and they’ve got some standout players,” Silva said after St. Mary’s playoff win over Bear Creek.
Pijl has 312 victories and 12 league championships in his 14-year varsity baseball coaching career in Stockton.
— Contact reporter Thomas Lawrence at (209) 546-8272 or tlawrence@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/sportsblog and on Twitter @RecordPreps.