For Hart baseball’s David Holuby, Wednesday’s game against Saugus meant a chance at redemption.
In the two teams’ first meeting of the season in March, Holuby dove and caught a fly ball – but the catch was ruled no good and the Indians were unable to rally after the call.
“It was big for me,” Holuby said of Wednesday’s game. “I just wanted to avenge what happened in the past, put it behind me. Just do what I can do to help my team out.”
The past was quickly forgotten as the junior launched a two-run single in the third inning to spark an offensive push that led to a 7-1 win over the Centurions.
Holuby was one of five different players to log an RBI and one of seven to record a hit in the win. The depth has emerged at an ideal time, since UCLA commit Cole Roederer strained his hamstring in a game against West Ranch earlier this month.
There is no timetable for Roederer’s return.
“I think everyone stepped up,” said Josh Cerpa, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI. “Everyone has done their part whether it be Cooper (Austin) playing center field for Cole, he’s come in, Dave (Holuby) playing left. Everyone has just been clutch and it’s what we need.”
Saugus (10-10-1 overall, 5-5 in Foothill League) scored its lone run in the third inning on an RBI single from Chase Lindemann, then Hart (14-10, 8-2) countered with its own scoring run in the bottom of the frame.
Trever Coogan hit an RBI single, which was followed by Holuby’s two-run single.
“It was intense,” Cerpa said. “We just had the momentum going forward and we had to make sure we got some runs going.”
Cerpa drove in a run for the Indians in the fourth inning, then Pat Arman crossed home plate on a passed ball.
Hart rounded out the scoring in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly from Brooks Statley, then an RBI single from Pat Arman.
In six innings, Hart’s Bryce Collins recorded seven strikeouts and yielded eight hits. Warner Rhodes pitched one inning in relief, throwing two K’s.
“…We had our opportunities to score and he shut us down,” said Saugus coach Carl Grissom. “…He’s their guy and when we had our opportunities, he made sure that we didn’t score.”
The Indians have the chance to win the three-game series against the Cents on Friday at Saugus at 3:30 p.m.
“We’re just going to keep it going, keep the gas pedal on and hopefully take it to them Friday,” Holuby said.
Valencia 9, Golden Valley 1
For the Vikings (10-14, 6-4), Lukas White was 4-for-4 with two RBIs and Brock Kleszcz was 1-for-3 with three RBIs on a double and sacrifice fly. Luke Chung was 2-for-4 with two singles and Kyle Robitaille was 3-for-3 with two singles.
White pitched six innings, striking out 10 batters and giving up two hits. Nick Tanis struck out two in one inning of relief.
Matt Broadwater was 1-for-3 with an RBI for Golden Valley (8-14, 0-10).
