Valencia High baseball beat Golden Valley 10-4 at Valencia on Friday afternoon.
The score may have been identical to Wednesday’s result, but Grizzlies coach Steve Lombardi said his team had a little more fight in it at the late-week matchup.
“I think we came out and we were competitive,” Lombardi said. “I liked the passion and the competitiveness of the way we played today.”
The Vikings (21-7 overall, 11-2 in Foothill League) didn’t start producing offensively at their full potential until the sixth inning, when they scored six runs.
“We were struggling a little earlier in the game getting some runs in,” said Valencia’s Ben Fariss. “But once we hit the sixth inning, we started getting the bats going and brought out a couple of their pitchers and were hitting the ball strong.”
Fariss hit a two-run home run and pitched three scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win.
“With the home run, he got two strikes on me and I just wanted to shorten up and hit the ball,” Fariss said. “Next thing you know, it’s going over the fence.”
Trace Eldridge of Valencia also had a two-run homer.
For Golden Valley (8-15, 3-10), Eddie Rodriguez had two hits on the day with a home run and a single.
Matt Broadwater and Bailey Martinez each had RBI singles for the Grizzlies.
Golden Valley next plays at Saugus on Tuesday. On the same day, Valencia will attempt to halt West Ranch’s run for the Foothill League title.
“We got some good momentum beating Golden Valley these two games,” said Fariss. “Hopefully we can keep it up against we ranch.
“It’s always a huge rivalry. We tied last year for league and we don’t want to tie again this year.”
West Ranch 8, Canyon 0
The Wildcats’ Garren Bui went 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Jovan Camacho was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Timmy Josten pitched six innings, allowing two hits and recording seven strikeouts.
Cowboys’ pitcher Matt Serrano allowed five hits and recorded six K’s in 5.67 innings.
“He was fantastic today keeping our batting lineup off balance,” Cats coach Casey Burrill said of Serrano. “It was a great ball game. It was close and tight.”
West Ranch (19-6, 12-1) next plays Valencia on Tuesday, while Canyon (2-24, 1-12) takes on Hart.
