By Tyler Sonderholzer
In their fifth game of the season and third game of the Loara Tournament, Barons’ baseball lost to the Vista Murrieta Broncos by a score of 6-7.
Senior Kevin Dow was the starting pitcher for the Barons and in the top of the first, he walked the leadoff hitter. The next batter of the game dropped a sacrifice bunt on the third base side to advance the runner to second base while he was thrown out at first. The third batter of the inning was able to get a hit up the middle to allow the runner on second to score from second to make it 0-1 in favor of the Broncos and during the next at-bat, the batter stole second and third after back-to-back wild pitches.
After Dow gave up another walk, the following batter hit the ball to senior third baseman Tim Grack but did not field the ball cleanly and was forced to throw the batter out at first.
Dow gave up another hit on a soft fly ball to right, and the runner from second scored, which extended the Broncos’ lead to three. The final batter of the inning popped out to senior shortstop Tyler Arevalos.
In the bottom of the first, Grack was the leadoff hitter and grounded out to second base. Arevalos was the second hitter of the inning for the Barons and he drew a walk. Sophomore designated hitter Tyler Peshke struck out but Arevalos stole second to bring a runner into scoring position. Senior first baseman Dylan Krause hit the first pitch he saw back to the pitcher who attempted to throw Arevlos out at second but the third baseman dropped the ball to allow Arevalos and Krause to reach base safely.
Senior left fielder Sean Sullivan was the fifth batter of the inning and he got hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, junior center fielder Gibson Rath struck out looking with the bases loaded to end the inning.
In the top of the second inning, Dow stormed back with a one-two-three inning by getting the leadoff hitter to ground out to Arevalos, the second hitter of the inning to fly out to Arevalos for the second out of the inning and the final hitter of the inning to ground out to junior second baseman Jimmy Long.
Senior right fielder Connor Chapa led off the bottom of the second inning for the Barons and lined out to the first baseman. Freshman second baseman Joseph Ledesma grounded out to third while junior catcher Jacob DeMaria walked to give the Barons their first base runner of the inning. Grack hit fourth in the inning and he got hit by the pitch to make it runners first and second. Arevalos struck out to end the bottom of the second.
Dow started the top of the third by striking out the first batter of the inning while the second batter hit a single that went between the first and second basemen. The third batter hit the ball to Ledesma whose throw led to Krause dropping the ball which led to the runner on second advancing to third.
The following batter hit the ball to the left side of the infield and Arevalos dove at the ball in an effort to stop it but the ball bounced off him and into left field, allowing the runner on second to score to make it a 4-0 game. The fourth batter of the inning hit the ball to Grack but he was unable to field the ball cleanly, which led to the batter reaching base safely. Then, a runner scored from third to extend the lead to 0-5. While Dow got the next batter to ground out to Arevalos, the runner on third scored which extended the Bronco lead yet again to 0-6. Dow ended the top of the third inning by striking out the final batter.
The bottom of the third started with Peshke getting hit by the pitch. After Krause struck out, Sullivan hit the ball in the right field gap to make it runners first and second. During Rath’s at-bat, a wild pitch allowed Sullivan to advance to second and Peshke to third. Rath walked to give the Barons their second chance with bases loaded. However, Chapa and Ledesma both struck out to end the inning.
Senior pitcher Matthew Solorzano replaced Dow on the mound in the top of the fourth and started off strong by striking out the first and third batters while getting the second batter to fly out to Chapa.
Offensive woes continued for the Barons as DeMaria flew out to shortstop, Grack grounded out to second base and Arevalos struck out.
The top of the fifth started with a leadoff walk and the second batter hit the ball to Grack and while he was able to throw the runner out at second, the runner at first still reached base safely. The third batter of the inning grounded out to Grack but he was only able to get the runner out at first. Solorzano gave up a single to right and the runner on second scored to make it 0-7. Solorzano struck out the final batter of the inning.
The bottom of the fifth saw a positive upturn for the Barons after a deficit for the majority of the game. Peshke hit a lead-off single to left field to start the bottom of the fifth and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Solorzano was up next after Peshke but he struck out. Sullivan hit the ball to the shortstop and the ball bounced off his glove and into left field to advance Peshke to third and Sullivan reached base safely. Rath hit the ball up the middle for a single and gave the Barons their first run of the game.
Senior Pedro Cornejo hit in place of Chapa and he hit the ball between the first and second baseman for a single. This gave Ledesma his second chance with the bases loaded and he hit a single to left field to give the Barons their second run of the game. Freshman Josh Grack hit in place of DeMaria and the pitcher threw a wild pitch which allowed Rath to score from third to make it a 3-7 game. During the same at bat, the pitcher again threw a wild pitch and Cornejo scored from third to give the Barons their fourth run of the inning.
Josh Grack popped out to first base for the second out of the inning, Tim Grack was the next batter and Ledesma scored on the third wild pitch of the inning to make it a 5-7 game. Grack hit a two-out single between the first and second baseman and Arevalos hit the ball down the third base line for a double which led to Grack scoring from first to make it a one-run game. Peshke grounded out to the shortstop to end a stellar six-run inning for the Barons.
Sullivan replaced Solorzano on the mound in the top of the sixth and had a stellar inning on the mound as he got the Bronco offense to go down in order with two groundouts to Tim Grack and one fly out to Cornejo.
The Baron bats had a quiet bottom of the sixth as Solorzano grounded out to shortstop, Sullivan grounded out to third base and Rath lined out to the shortstop to end the inning.
Sullivan pitched for his second straight inning and the leadoff hitter flew out to Cornejo. Sullivan then gave up a double to the left field gap while the third batter of the inning flew out to Solorzano. The next batter walked to put runners on first and second but the inning ended on a ground out to Tim Grack.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Baron bats were unable to complete the comeback as Cornejo grounded out to second to lead off the inning, Ledesma struck out and DeMaria struck out to end the game.
Barons’ baseball now has a record of 1-4 in non-conference games, their next game is a home game on Thursday against Segerstrom High School at 3 p.m.
