Torrance unable to solve Millikan’s Patton
TORRANCE » Torrance finally got a chance to get to Millikan’s Myles Patton in the seventh inning.
The Tartars, trailing by three runs and with one out, got consecutive singles from Tanner Barbosa and Brock Mayer to bring the tying run to the plate.
Unfortunately for the Pioneer League champions, that’s where the tying run remained.
Patton got out of the tight situation to preserve a 3-0 win for the Rams, eliminating the Tartars from the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs on Tuesday.
The Rams (21-4) will visit Saugus in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“His demeanor is real soft, but when the ball comes out of his hands, it comes out loud,” Torrance
Torrance catcher Dylan Mendoza signals not to throw home as Millikan’s Troy Harding scores on a Tartars throwing error to give the Rams a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning.
coach Rob Ybarra said of Patton. “He was hard to pick up. We didn’t really execute and it was tough to do anything.”
Patton allowed four hits and struck out 10 in the win
to improve to 7-2. At one point, he struck out five consecutive Torrance batters.
On the other side, Torrance junior Aidan Irvine did his best to keep the Tartars (15-7) in the game.
Millikan’s first two hitters of the game reached base on singles. Later, Irvine was called for a balk and Daniel Murillo followed with a sacrifice fly for the game’s first run.
From there, Irvine allowed just two more singles through the sixth inning.
“He’s been a horse all year for us,” Ybarra said. “Undefeated (8-0) up until now. … He had a hitch in the first, with that balk, got the run across, but you couldn’t ask for more from Irvine.”
The Rams put some insurance runs on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning. Tyler Bermundo led off with a single and Troy Harding reached on an error. Later, with the bases loaded, Bermundo scored on Dean Ormonde’s ground ball and Harding came home on a throwing error to make it 3-0.
Millikan opened the playoffs with an 6-1 win over Mary Star, while Torrance had a first-round bye, which might have slowed the momentum of a team that ended the season winning five consecutive games.
Patton also pitched a complete game in the Rams’ playoffs opener, allowing one run on four hits with nine strikeouts.
“I think what it (bye) did was affect the timing of the hitting,” Ybarra said. “We could tell on our swings, — a lot of swing and misses, fouling pitches off. Our specialty is the small ball, putting runners in motion and we didn’t look very comfortable at all.”
NORTH TORRANCE 10, FLINTRIDGE PREP 6 » Delshaun Lanier had two doubles, drove in three runs, stole two bases and scored three runs in the Division 5 road win for the Saxons. North will host Hemet in Friday’s quarterfinals.