By Tyler Sonderholzer
In their twelfth game of the season, all non-league, the baseball team shut out the Marina Vikings 3-0, making their overall record 6-6.
“I thought our pitching was outstanding; pitching and defense were definitely our strengths,” head coach Deric Yanagisawa said. “I thought our pitchers did an outstanding job throwing strikes and making Marina earn every bit on offense. We also made some great plays defensively throughout the game and we added some clutch at-bats and we were able to win 3-0.”
In a game at Angel Stadium, the home field of the Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels, senior Ryder Brooks started the game on the mound for the Barons and was able to get the first three Viking batters out. Brooks fielded a ground ball that went to him and made a ground out to first base where senior Keith Aguilar made a great diving stop to prevent the ball from going past him. Brooks struck out the last batter to end the top of the first.
In the bottom of the first, senior Chris Ouellette hit a lead-off single and went to second base on a passed ball to start the Baron offense. Then, senior Austin Kolbly grounded into a fielder’s choice and was out at third, however, Ouelette went to third on the play. Junior Tim Grack was the next batter and he also grounded into a fielder’s choice while Ouellette managed to score, making it 1-0. Senior Blake Wentz struck out to end the first.
In the top of the second, senior Daniel Stopol replaced Brooks on the mound and while he gave up a walk, he struck out the next batter, got the next batter to ground into a fielder’s choice and the last batter of the inning grounded out to Wentz who made a great defensive play to end the inning.
The bottom of the second started out slow for the Baron offense as Aguilar grounded out while senior Shane Dougherty struck out. However, Brooks was hit by a pitch and junior Tyler Arevalos replaced him as the pinch-runner. Senior Adam Baggetta then hit a triple while Arevalos scored on the play to make the game 2-0. Senior Tyler Krause then struck out to end the second inning.
Stopol remained on the mound in the top of the third and was able to get a lead-off ground out to third base to get the first out. Then, he gave up a single but while the Viking runner tried to steal second, he was thrown out by Kolbly. Stopol gave up a walk and the Viking runner was able to successfully steal second.
Stopol then got the last batter to pop out of the second to end the inning, which would be his last inning on the mound.
Ouellette led off the bottom of the third, however, he flew out to left to get a quick first out. Aguilar then hit a hard line drive in but the first baseman made a great diving catch to prevent the ball from going into the outfield. Grack was able to hit a single and successful steal second and that was all the offense the Barons could muster as Wentz flew out to center to get the third out
Wentz replaced Stopol on the mound but immediately gave up a lead-off single. He then got the batter to ground out into a fielder’s choice which got the batter out while the runner on first went to second. The next batter hit a deep sacrifice fly to center letting the runner on second went to third. Wentz hit the following batter which meant runners were on first and third. However, he got the final batter to pop out to end the top of the fourth.
The Barons’ bats fell silent in the bottom of the fourth as Aguilar flew out, senior Tyler Nowicki striked out and, while Arevalos drew a walk and successfully stole second, junior Sean Sullivan flew out to close the fourth.
Wentz stayed out for the top of the fifth and immediately gave up a lead-off single. He then got the next batter to ground out into a double play in a stellar defensive play. The last batter of the inning flew out to left which ended the top of the fifth. This was Wentz’s final inning on the mound.
Senior Charles (Chuck) Ferguson drew a lead-off walk to start out the bottom of the fifth for the Barons. He was able to advance to second when Ouellette grounded into a fielder’s choice. Junior Matthew Solorzano struck out while Grack grounded out to the shortstop to end the fifth inning.
Following Wentz’s two strong innings, he was replaced by Aguilar on the mound in the top of the sixth. Aguilar was able to get the lead-off batter to fly out to center but the next batter was able to hit a single to get a man on first base. The next batter grounded into a fielder’s choice as he was out at first while the runner on first advanced to second. The last batter flew out to center to close out Aguilar’s only inning on the mound.
Wentz struck out to open the bottom of the sixth. Aguilar was hit by the pitch and was able to successfully steal second during Dougherty’s at-bat, who later popped out to the shortstop. Arevalos then hit a single in between the first and second baseman as Aguilar scored on the play, however, Arevalos was thrown out at second trying to extend the single into a double which ended the sixth.
Grack then replaced Aguilar on the mound to get the final three outs. Grack had a stellar inning on the mound as he got the first batter out on a ground ball that went right back to him and struck out the final two batters to end the game in a 3-0 victory for the Barons.
“I think our defense was really good today, especially from our pitches throwing a combined shut out,” Arevalos said. “I do think we could have hit a little better and put some more runs on the board”
The Barons had three runs on four hits while the Vikings had zero runs on five hits.
“Thank you to our students who came out to support [and] thank you to the staff that rushed over and took time out of their busy lives to support our program,” Yanagisawa said. “Thank you to the coaches that cut their practices short and encouraged their teams to support us. When you look up and see the amount of people that came out yesterday, [it] makes you extremely proud to be a Baron.”
The next game for the Barons is a home game against Corona del Mar in a non-league match-up on Mar. 16 at 3:15 p.m.
