SAN JOSE >> Owen Rogers pitched well enough to earn the win, but the senior right-hander didn’t get much in the way of run support in Santa Cruz High’s 2-1 loss to Santa Teresa in nonleague baseball action Wednesday.

Despite the loss, the Cardinals (7-3, 5-0) — the only remaining unbeaten team left in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League — have high hopes this season. They entered spring break this week ranked No. 11 in the Central Coast Section, regardless of enrollment, by maxpreps.com.

“We’ve got a good squad this year and we’re pretty confident,” said Damos Deworken, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, after going 1-for-2 with a walk. “I know for sure this is a team that can do some damage and I’m ready to win a championship. We got so close last year, and I want it this year.”

Santa Cruz lost 1-0 to Capuchino in the CCS Division V Championship last season.

The Cardinals look to return to their winning ways when they play at Westmont (2-11-1) in Campbell on Friday at 4 p.m. They’ll also host Wilcox (7-7) on Saturday at 11 a.m.

“We’re feeling good,” Rogers said. “We gotta get after it in practice this week. Our pitching has been solid; we just have to work on putting the ball in play more.”

Rogers scattered five hits over seven innings, didn’t issue a walk, and struck out five batters. He shined with a new pitch, a sinker, in his arsenal, which he learned a day earlier.

Who taught him? Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Well, not directly.

“I was watching a video of his grip and it was working out with my lower arm slot. It was fun,” Rogers said.

He said he threw it once while playing catch in practice on Tuesday and a couple of more times in his bullpen before the game.

Rogers said he threw his sinker 10 to 15 times against the Saints. “It worked. I was getting swing and misses, some tail, some sink,” he said. “I’m going to keep throwing it.”

He also throws a fastball, curveball, and changeup. “I have pretty good control of the three right now, so I figured, might as well add a fourth (pitch).”

Said Bubba Trumbull, the Cardinals’ head coach: “Owen was phenomenal. He deserved to get a win, absolutely.”

Saints senior right-hander Micah DeLap, who shined despite working with a blood blister on his pitching hand, was also impressive. He gave up five hits, walked three batters, beaned one, and struck out four batters.

“He was a little iffy with his changeup,” said Jason Washington, the Saints’ first-year head coach. “But it seemed his slider and fastball were working, so we were just throwing in and out, high and low with his fastball, trying not to do too much breaking pitches, just because we were worried about his finger.”

Santa Cruz stranded 10 runners on base, including six in scoring position.

“It was a good win; I’m glad,” Washington said. “They’re a great team, though.”

The Saints (7-6) scored both of their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Daichi Sagae reached base on an infield chopper, moved to second on Kaden Kott’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on leadoff hitter David Hall’s two-out double to left field. Hall moved to third on an errant throw on a pickoff attempt, and scored on Jacob Guevarra’s single.

“The boys are figuring it out. We’re learning,” Washington said. “We have a lot of sophomores and juniors. We’re getting them under our system. It’s my first year here. We’re just trying to get them to play how we want them to. They’re figuring it out. They’re doing a pretty good job.”

The Cardinals had several scoring opportunities over the final three innings. They stranded runners at second and third in the fifth, loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth and failed to score, and had runners at first and third in the seventh with one out when DeLap and the Saints escaped yet another jam.

“We played well, defensively, pitched well, but we just didn’t have energy in the dugout,” Rogers said. “Like the first five innings of the game we were quiet. We kinda picked it up in the sixth and seventh, but we couldn’t find that one run we needed.”

Matteo Caltabiano hit a leadoff single in the seventh and scored the Cardinals’ lone run on a fielding error in center field on Seth Jin’s fly ball.

The Cardinals, primarily using Rogers, Jason Graff, Cameron Fusari and Morgan Toohey on the mound, have held opponents to three runs or less in eight games.

“All four of those guys have been phenomenal,” Trumbull said. “Our pitching has been phenomenal. It’s hard to score runs against us. We’ve played good defense, which helps with that. And when we hit and we’re aggressive on the bases, we can do good things. If we get in a little slump and come without the energy at the plate, we’re usually in a dogfight.”