By Olivia Krueger, Sports Editor & Vivian Yenson, Staff Writer
Despite beating the Huntington Beach Oilers 20-4 on Tuesday, the Barons varsity baseball team was unable to complete the sweep and fell 6-2 in a frustrating game. As the game began in the Barons’ favor, rocky pitching and simple mistakes contributed to their loss.
Starting pitcher senior Nathan Wilson gave up one run over 5⅓ strong innings with 2 runs of support driven in by sophomore Jake Brooks and senior Shea Adame.
In the bottom of the second inning, senior Noah Amenta singled to shallow left field and advanced to second base after the pitcher made an overthrow attempting to pick Amenta off. A sacrifice hit moved Amenta to third base and Brooks hit a dribbler to third base to drive Amenta home to give the Barons a 1-0 lead.
After a missed double play opportunity, Wilson got in a jam in the top of the fourth inning and allowed a run after a line drive to right field to tie the game 1-1.
Sophomore Cole Wentz and Brooks hit back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fourth inning and Adame gave the Barons back the lead as he drove in a run with a double to deep right field.
After a diving catch by senior Jake Bitzer in the top of the sixth inning, Wilson walked his final batter and was replaced by Brooks after 5⅓ innings. Huntington Beach senior Justin Brodt took advantage of the pitching change and belted a two-run home run as the first batter seen by Brooks. Brooks struck out two to end the inning but the Barons trailed for the first time in the game, down 2-3.
The Barons’ offense remained silent from the fourth inning and Brooks returned to the mound to take on the top of the seventh inning. Brooks began with a strikeout, but after a single and a pass ball, a single to center drove in another run to increase the deficit 2-4.
“We just made too many mistakes to beat a good baseball team like Huntington Beach. We didn’t play catch and we didn’t execute as well as we hoped. We didn’t come up with the timely hits when we needed to,” said Head Coach Deric Yanagisawa.
With the bases cleared, Brodt jacked another homerun to end Brooks’ day. Wentz came in for the final out but gave up one more run before the three-run inning was over.
The Barons’ were sat down in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game 2-6.
“We played hard, but bottom line is we didn’t swing the bats as well as have in the past. We missed a squeeze, so we just got outplayed today and that’s baseball,” said Yanagisawa.
The Barons are third place in the Sunset League with a 6-4 record. The next home game will be on May 2 against the Edison Chargers.
