By Zander Sherry
On Wednesday, baseball was victorious in a match against Downey High School, finishing with a score of 5-2.
Junior Mathew Solorzano pitched for the first four innings and during his time on the mound, had limited the Vikings to one run.
In the top of the first inning, the Barons held the Vikings down with zero points; the Barons made three consecutive outs in the outfield and first two bases. The score remained 0-0 for the first two innings due to strong defense from both teams and consistent pitching from Solorzano.
“Today we did a good job of playing defense. Our pitching did a good job of keeping us in there,” head coach Deric Yanagisawa said.
The first point of the game was scored in the top of the third inning by the Vikings, followed by a ground out at second base. The Barons did not manage to score in the bottom of the inning.
The top of the fourth inning ended with a double play at second base and first base. The Barons were unable to make any runs in the bottom of the inning.
Going into the fifth inning, Senior Daniel Stopol took the mound and allowed zero runs for the two innings he pitched.
The bottom of the fifth started with the score remaining stagnant at 0-1. Things started to pick up when senior Tyler Nowicki made a hard line drive to advance to first. Following Nowicki was senior Keith Aguilar who hit to right field, making it to first and allowing Nowicki to advance to third. The inning continued with senior Austin Kolbly advancing to first, loading the Barons on all bases. The pressure was on junior Tim Grack to hit and allow the Barons their first run.
After a few fouls, Grack batted and allowed Nowicki and Aguilar to run home, making two runs and putting the Barons in the lead with a score of 2-1.
The Barons loaded all three bases again when senior Chris Oullette advanced to first base. The next batter, senior Ryder Brooks, batted to first base allowing the Barons to score another run through Kolbly. The bases remained loaded as the score stood at 3-1.
The inning ended with a fly out by a Viking, and the Barons now in the lead.
The top of the sixth was uneventful for the Vikings, as Nowicki in the outfield and Aguilar at first base caught fly outs to keep them from advancing.
The Baron offense saw its next strong plays in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Tyler Arevelos hit a line drive up the middle, advancing two bases in a double play. Following Arevelos was Aguilar who made a second double play by hitting out left, far enough for Arevalos to run home, making the score 4-1.
Senior Adam Bagetta pinch ran for Aguilar at second base and walked to third on an error. Kolbly took a walk to first on an error, and when Grack hit a hard shot into the left-field, Bagetta ran home for the Baron’s fifth and final point. The bottom of the sixth ended 5-1.
The seventh inning started with Aguilar relief pitching; this inning was the Vikings’ last chance to make up four points. A Viking batter ripped a single down the left-field line to advance double. He later made the second point for Downey when he ran home on a wild pitch, making the score 5-2.
The Vikings were unable to muster any more offense, and the game ended in a decisive victory for the Barons.
Standout plays from the game came from all three pitchers, who limited the Vikings’ runs, and the basemen who threw out enough runners to keep Downey’s time on the offense short.
“Our pitching did a good job throughout the whole game, and I think the infield was solid today,” Aguilar said.
With a slow first half of the game, the Baron offense shined in their final innings with loaded RBIs and good steals.
“We got to them in the fifth and the sixth, then we were able to put some runs up on the board, take advantage and put ourselves in a good place to end,” Yanagisawa said.
With only three games left in the season, baseball’s next game will be a non-league match against San Juan Capistrano’s Capistrano Valley Christian at FVHS on Saturday, Apr. 23, at 3:15 p.m.
