Another Foothill League baseball battle came down to the seventh inning on Wednesday as the Hart Indians looked to take down the hosting Castaic Coyotes.
Hart catcher Ryan De La Maza had a quiet day at the plate until the seventh, when he delivered the go-ahead RBI double that would be enough to win the game, 6-4.
De La Maza’s two-out double brought in Matthew Perez and Brayden Jefferis, who both reached the bases for the first time of the day in the seventh.
A hit and a walk sparked the Indian rally and the Coyotes (11-8, 3-4) utilized the same recipe. The potential game-tying run reached as a Jack Teoli single and a walk of Alejandro Flores put two on. The Castaic runners advanced on a wild pitch, leaving two in scoring position with no outs.
Hart (16-5, 5-2) senior Ian Edwards has been asked to escape jams all season and was ready for another high-stakes situation. Edwards, a submarine pitcher, fanned his next two opponents, keeping the runners at bay. The reliever then retired his third straight opponent of the day, in perfect timing as Coyotes third baseman Giovanni Foster, who was on deck, had back-to-back RBI hits in his last two at-bats.
Before Edwards earned the win, he took the mound needing just one out in the fifth and snagged it in style. The reliever used a nice spin on the bump to get the tag on a Coyote base runner sliding back into second.
Edwards threw one pitch in the inning but got his out at second.
“Ian’s been good all year, why would I change anything now?” said Hart coach Jim Ozella. “He’s been our guy late in the game, coming in key situations and jams. We’re confident in him and his confidence soars every time. He only threw 30-some pitches today so he can go on Friday again.”
Hart jumped early off an RBI single from Taj Brar. The senior singled again in the fourth and sparked the first of four base hits. Hart went up 4-0 in the inning thanks to consecutive RBI hits from Hayden Rhodes and Eddie Gutierrez.
The Coyotes escaped the inning with a 9-5 double play as Jacob De La Cruz caught a flyout in right field and threw a perfect dime to Foster at third to end the scoring run.
Brar started on the mound for Hart and held Castaic at ease for three no-hit innings. However, the Coyote bats finally woke up down four runs and sparked back into the game. Three straight RBI hits, starting with a double from Luke Thompson, would be enough to end Brar’s day in the fourth.
Castaic got its third run off a short but nearly perfect bunt from Anthony Luna as the ball was just enough out of Brar’s reach, allowing the runner to score.
Castaic then tied the game in the fifth inning against reliever Carson Maymo, thanks to Foster’s second RBI single.
Coyotes senior Tyler Hawn nearly went the distance and threw a solid game through all seven innings despite pushing himself over 100 pitches. Hawn checked out with 6.2 innings clocked and ended his day with five strikeouts and one walk before coach Darrell Davis pulled him.
“We had to go get him,” Davis said. “(Hawn) does what he does. That’s why he’s all-Foothill League, all-CIF and one of our leaders on this team, so we’re proud of him.”
Castaic is hoping for similar results as last season after the Coyotes won the program’s first-ever game over the Indians, on Hart’s field.
“We gotta come back Friday at their house,” Davis said. “We’ve beaten them before at their house so we’re gonna have to come with our A-game.”
Hart’s bats could not be cooled off a few weeks ago when the team put up 43 runs in four games. The Indians’ swings took some stumbles but after 10 days off from games, the team appears to be ramping back up at the plate.
“Yesterday, our hitting in practice was really, really good, and I think it’s really been coming out,” Ozella said. “But less than two weeks ago we played Saugus and we weren’t swinging the bat very well, but hey, whatever. That’s in the past. We’re trying to beat Castaic.”
Castaic heads to Hart on Friday at 3:30 p.m.