By Zander Sherry
On Friday, in their 19th game of the season, the baseball team went up against the Los Alamitos Griffins and finished with a score of 4-11. With this, their overall season record is now at 7-12.
With junior Tim Grack pitching for the first five innings, the Barons started with strong defense. Grack held the Griffins down in the top of the first inning, ending it with zero points.
Los Alamitos gained the first point of the game in the top of the second inning. After a ground out from senior Shane Dougherty at second base, a Griffin batter was able to walk to first. This led to the team’s first run with their next batter’s single.
Los Alamitos’s defense retired three consecutive Baron batters, ending the bottom of the second inning in their favor 0-1.
The Griffins gained their second point in the top of the third inning. The Griffins almost scored again but a quick defensive play from Grack where he pivoted to ground out the runner at third base kept the score 0-2.
Continuing into the fourth, strikeouts and a ground out by senior Keith Aguilar at first base, followed by a ground out by Dougherty at second base kept the Griffins at two points. In the bottom of the fourth, senior Blake Wentz hit a single, followed by senior Ryder Brooks who took a walk to first base. Senior Sean Sullivan then hit the ball and batted the two runners into home, tying the score with a 2-2.
“It was one of the innings where [Sullivan] took the lead—it was a big hit,” Grack said, “He gave us a lead and gave us the ability to try to win the game”
Sullivan continued to home base after junior Tyler Arevalos batted a single. The next batter struck out, ending the inning 3-2.
Optimism for the Barons was upheld in the fifth inning when senior catcher Austin Kolby bunted out a Griffin; the Barons’ good defense also kept the Griffins from scoring. The game picked up its pace in the bottom of the fifth when Grack, Wentz and Kolby all advanced in singles, loading up the bases. This setup allowed Grack to score a fourth point when the next batter hit a single. The bases were loaded once again, but with two players striking out after that, their momentum ended and the inning closed.
Excitement for Los Alamitos erupted in the sixth inning when a Griffin ran home and the score was tied 4-4. Grack finally stepped down from the mound after a persistent effort against the Griffins and was replaced by Aguilar. From then on, the Barons suffered a great push from Los Alamitos’s offense, including another run. In the bottom of the sixth, the Barons were able to load all the bases, but could not hit any runners home after a bunt out by the Los Alamitos catcher.
Without having scored, they went into the last inning with a score of 4-5.
The Griffins continuously put up an onslaught of offensive plays and managed to score six runs in the top of the last inning. Things were not looking good for the Barons. They had a series of errors which included losing sight of the ball.
“We played great for five innings, you know, but at this level, you have to play catch—right? And we didn’t do that. And we [don’t] deserve to win when you don’t play catch” head coach Deric Yanagisawa said.
Without picking up any runs in the bottom of the last inning, the game ended 4-11 in favor of the Griffins. With this, the Barons’ Sunset Surf League record now stands at 1-4.
“We don’t have any leeway and we only send two teams to the playoffs. So, you know, we had to win today. That was a must.” Yanagisawa said.
Though the Barons are not in despair from the day’s loss, and they look forward to the rest of their season.
“We still got four more league games and hopefully we finish strong and we could finish with some pride. And finish off the year on a positive note,” Yanagisawa said.
The next game for the baseball team will be an away Sunset League game against Edison High School, on Tuesday, Apr. 4 at 3:15 p.m.
