Maines leads strong defensive effort in Lakewood win
LAKEWOOD » Pitching and defense. That's what Lakewood baseball coach Spud O'Neil said it took to pull off a 2-1 win against Moore League rival Wilson at home Thursday.
Lakewood improved to 6-5 overall and 3-0 in the Moore League. The Lancers are tied for first place with Millikan and Long Beach Poly, who have all recently experienced postponed games due to this week's rainy weather.
“It's huge for these guys. Most of them have never been in this position before as far as 3-0 (record in Moore League play) or something like that,” said O'Neil, who is in his 40th season coaching baseball at Lakewood.
“The kids keep me young and I'm pretty good at teaching this game and I have four good coaches that really work hard. Most teams wouldn't have been able to play today because of the rain but our coaching staff got this field all set up. It was big for us to play.”
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played Wednesday night at Blair Field, was rescheduled and moved to Lakewood due to this week's inclement weather.
Wilson started the game off with a 1-0 lead after shortstop Taylor Kirk's RBI in the top of the first inning. Kirk finished 1 for 3 with a single and RBI.
Wilson starting pitcher
Danny Royle had a positive first inning but the first two batters he faced in the second inning got on base. A passed ball put runners on second and third with no outs. Royle walked Lakewood designated hitter Andres Roman to load the bases and he then walked right fielder Alex Ortiz to score third baseman Anthony Zepeda and tie the game 1-1.
Wilson then turned to relief pitcher Jaaden Romero with the bases loaded and no outs. Romero was effective in a tough spot but a sacrifice by Lakewood leadoff hitter Mason Luna drove in a run and gave the Lancers a 2-1 lead in the second inning.
Meanwhile, a great catch by Lakewood center fielder Matt Maines in the top of the third inning preserved Lakewood's 2-1 lead.
“Every Moore League game is pitching and defense, last year, the year before and this one too,” Maines said. “It's always like this in Moore League.”
Wilson's Romero locked in and pitched a 1, 2, 3 inning to close out the bottom of the fourth inning.
Wilson is 6-5 overall and 1-1 in Moore League play. The Bruins had more hits than the Lancers 4-2 but were not able to score a run in the last six innings of the game.
Wilson's Aaron Mingo did not allow a run in the final 2.1 innings and he went 1 for 2 with a walk.
Wilson coach Andy Hall wants his team to learn something from Lakewood's hardfought victory.
“Essentially that we have to compete a lot harder,” Hall said. “We know who we are as a team. We don't have a guy like we did last year (pitcher Charlie Royle who is now a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) that we can give the ball to and say go out and get us 21 outs because (this year) we need to piece it together.
“The plan was to go six outs with Danny (Royle), nine outs with Jaaden Romero and close it up with (Aaron) Mingo, and except for the second inning I think it was a pretty good plan. And on the other side of it offensively, we've got to be a little bit more competitive at home plate, swing at better pitches and make it a little tougher on their pitcher like they do on us.”
Lakewood starting pitcher Adrian Arellano and relief pitcher Joseph Dizon gave up a combined four hits and one run in seven innings. Arellano and Dizon each had two strikeouts.
Dizon pitched the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. He struck out the first and last batter he faced to secure the win.