Trent Sievers (’17) beats a Charger catcher to the plate as he scores on a double from Sebastian Murillo (’20). Photo by Bethany Pham.by Olivia Krueger, staff writer
The Barons varsity baseball took on the Edison Chargers in a Sunset League matchup at Fountain Valley High School on Friday but fell short 6-3.
The Barons were put back early as the starting pitcher Nathan Wilson (‘18) walked the first batter and gave up two singles to load the bases. Wilson proceeded to strike out the next batter and threw the runner out at home on a bunt, but then gave up a two-run single.
The seventh batter of the inning grounded the ball to first baseman Noah Amenta (‘18) who stepped on first to get the last out and Wilson finished the first inning with 31 pitches two runs given up.
“We had a hard time throwing strikes at the beginning on the game,” said Head Coach Deric Yanagisawa.
Edison pitching retired the first two batters easily but gave up a solo homerun to right field by Justin Mazzone (‘17). Conrad Villafuerte (‘18) outran a ground ball to third base and reached first safely, but Shea Adame grounded to shortstop. Edison got the force out at second and ended the inning, the Barons trailing 2-1.
Wilson walked the leadoff batter for the second time but after two attempts, he picked the runner off at first and recorded his first strikeout against the next batter. A routine play to second turned into a double as second baseman Sebastian Murillo (’20) overthrew the ball into the dugout and the Chargers keep the inning alive. Wilson gave up two consecutive doubles that scored two runs and the score was now 4-1.
“We’re hoping our starting pitching can give us four innings in the beginning but our guy today, Wilson, didn’t have good stuff and we didn’t play catch and a combination of those things makes it hard to win,” said Yanagisawa.
Wilson exited the game with two strikeouts and two earned runs in 53 pitches in 1.2 innings. Miguel Larios (’17) entered the game and quickly got the final out on a pop-up to center field.
The first two Barons were again quickly retired but Justin Yang (‘17) hit a bullet into left field to keep the inning alive. With Travis Aversa (’17) up to bat, Yang was balked to second base. With many opportunities for FV, Aversa grounded out to second and the inning was over, the Barons still behind 4-1.
Larios promptly gave up a double to center and the runner was moved over to third on a ground ball. A sacrifice fly to left field scored the runner and the inning ended with a strikeout; Edison extended their lead to 5-1.
The Barons offense quickly jumped onto Edison’s pitching while Trent Sievers (’17) doubled on the first pitch into center field and Murillo doubled Sievers home on a ball hit to left field. Mazzone flew out on a well-hit ball to center field to make the first out and Villafuerte moved Murillo to third base on a ground ball to shortstop. With a runner on third, Shae Adame (‘18) struck out swinging and ended the rally with the score now 5-2.
Yang took over the mound in the fourth inning and got three fly balls, the first scoreless inning by a Barons pitcher. The Chargers retaliated and proceeded to record a scoreless bottom of the fourth and kept the score at 5-2. Yang forced three ground balls and for his second inning of work kept the Chargers hitless.
Aversa started the bottom of the fifth inning with a single to right field but was forced out at second by Sievers’ groundball to shortstop. Sievers stole second base and scored on a double to the gap in left field. Mazzone walked and the next two batters were called out with two runners on base.
After Yang got the first out, he gave up his first hit into shallow left field and a bullet into right field, runners on first and third. The batter popped up a bunt and first baseman Villafuerte was unable to make the catch and the runner scored from third.
“Every time we made a mistake they capitalized on it, you can’t give good teams like that extra outs,” said Yanagisawa.
With runners on first and second, Murillo made a smooth play on a ground ball to get the out and end the inning 6-3.
In their last chance to come back, Sievers singled to left field and Murillo walked on a full count. Edison made a pitching change and Mazzone grounded out to first and moved to runners over the second and third. With two outs, Villafuerte was robbed of a hit and a RBI by a jumping diving catch made by the shortstop and the game ended with the score 6-3.
Varsity baseball’s next game will be a league game against Marina at Fountain Valley High School on Tuesday, April 11.
