By Diego Marquez
Signal Staff Writer
Behind a single and two bunts in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hart loaded the bases for Trevor Coogan against Valencia Wednesday afternoon with the score deadlocked at zero.
The Indians’ catcher hit a sacrifice fly into right field to score the game’s first run.
By the time the inning was over Valencia allowed three runs with pitcher Lukas White looking a little rattled by Hart’s offense.
Going down 3-0 in the fourth, the Vikings weren’t able to recover and dropped their second league game, 10-1, against Hart (6-7, 3-1).
“We did some nice execution stuff, we got the bunt down a few times,” said Hart head coach Jim Ozella. “… You know the bunt game is kind of an important game for us and now that’s a couple games in a row that we got that done, so we’re going to have to keep working on that.”
Valencia (6-6 overall, 3-2 Foothill League) answered with a hit scoring their lone run in the top of the fifth after Davis Cop hit a sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Indians’ bats continued connecting as the Hart scored six more in the inning.
“We made a couple errors on bunt plays to open up the door for them in the fourth and fifth and then they got some momentum and put together a hot streak and put us away,” said Valencia head coach Mike Killinger.
Hart’s Cole Roederer hit a monster homer to begin the fifth over the center field wall with a full-count.
The next seven Indian hitters followed Roederer reaching base safely.
“The momentum could have fallen on our side or their side, but after that home-run you could definitely tell that he [Lukas White] was shaken up a little bit,” said Roederer about the Indians’ big fifth inning.
White was ultimately pulled in the bottom of the fifth giving up six runs with five strikeouts.
His counterpart, Ryan Carolan went six innings giving up one and striking out eight in the win.
“I liked the fact that Ryan Carolan was searching for the strike zone early and he kind of made some adjustments and started getting after it a little better,” Ozella said of his starting pitcher.
“I thought he was aggressive today, I thought he was trying to attack the hitters and when he does that he’s pretty good.”
West Ranch 12, Golden Valley 1
West Ranch moves into first place in the Foothill League with a 12-1 victory over Golden Valley on Wednesday.
West Ranch (11-3 overall, 4-1 Foothill League) has won five in a row after dropping its first Foothill League game against Hart, March 15.
Will Chambers led the Wildcats at the plate going 2-of-3, hitting a home run and finishing with three RBI’s on the day. Christos Stefanos and Justin Bumgarner followed with two RBI’s each.
Pitcher Trent Bird went five-innings, giving up zero runs while striking out five and walking one.
“When we get back from spring break we have a big two-game series with Hart,” said West Ranch head coach Casey Burrill. “Trent did a great job of keeping the Golden Valley offense off balance. He consistently threw all three of his pitches: curveball, fastball and changeup.”
Golden Valley (5-6, 0-5) is still looking for its first Foothill League win.
The Grizzlies lone run was scored by Cameron Pfafman.
Golden Valley plays Loara of Anaheim in the Santa Ana Elks tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m.
West Ranch will play next in the Boras Classic over spring break.
Saugus 10, Canyon 6
Saugus (5-5-1 overall, 3-2 Foothill League) won its third straight game on Wednesday with a victory over Canyon.
Canyon drops to 5-6 overall and 1-3 in league.
“I was impressed how Saugus came out and played,” said Canyon head coach Drew Peterson. “We gave them five [runs] in the second and another four in the fifth inning. When any team puts those crooked numbers on the board, it’s tough to come back. We had opportunities to score, but couldn’t capitalize.”
Hewitt Grissom and Brandyn Cruz both went 2-4 with two RBI’s each for Saugus in the win.
Canyon pitcher Charles Harrison struggled on the day, giving up six runs in two innings before getting pulled.
Canyon can quickly forget about this loss as it faces off against Hart today at 3:30 p.m.
“We want to come out Thursday with some intensity and some energy and be able to play some better baseball. We are playing very inconsistently, so we just need to get back to the basics. Charles just didn’t have it today, he got behind hitters and it’s hard to come from behind,” Peterson said.
Next up for Saugus is Cabrillo on April 3 in the Righetti Spring Classic.
