Bloomington defeats Summit in pitchers' duel

Tejada goes the distance for a four-hit shutout as the Bruins grab a 1-0 victory over the Skyhawks and Smathers

High school baseball coaches love good defense and pitchers who throw strikes.

Bloomington and Fontana Summit provided plenty of those virtues in Tuesday afternoon’s Sunkist League matchup.

Baseball coaches at all levels hate leadoff walks. One proved to be the difference in Bloomington’s 1-0 victory over Summit.

Bloomington coach Carlos Conterras sent Adan Jimenez to pinch-hit for Jordan Frogge to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. Jimenez usually is a relief pitcher who enters in difficult situations, but Contreras said Jimenez is a good pinch-hitter.

“I knew he (Jimenez) would give us a tough atbat,” Contreras said.

Jimenez walked on five pitches, and Frogge reentered the game as a pinchrunner. David Trujillo hit an opposite-field single to left, moving Frogge to second. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and then Dylan Buzard lifted a fly ball to left, bringing home Frogge with the first run, the only run, and the winning run.

“It seems like after a leadoff walk, the run scores more often than not,” Summit coach Samuel Lopez said.

While that might not be strictly true by old-school statistics or Sabermetrics, it often seems that way to coaches and fans.

Pitchers for both teams were the standouts of the afternoon. Summit’s Kody Smathers recorded good numbers, allowing two hits while striking out nine batters in six innings of work.

Bloomington’s Andrew Tejada, a senior southpaw, did things a different way. He didn’t have any strikeouts, and that is OK with Contreras.

“We preach pitching to soft contact,” Contreras said. “Andrew really buys into that.”

Tejada tossed a four-hit shutout and recorded the final three outs in the seventh inning on soft fly balls to right.

Contreras has nicknamed Tejada, “La Máquina.”

“He throws strikes like a machine and hits line drives like a machine,” Contreras said.

Tejada said his fastball doesn’t top 80 miles per hour. He said there are a number of hard throwers in the Sunkist League and feels his change-up can be effective because batters aren’t accustomed to offspeed pitches.

“This was my first time facing Summit, and I didn’t want to let the atmosphere get to me,” Tejada said.

Smathers, whose father

Christopher pitched at Alta Loma and was considered for the amateur draft before getting injured, learned the slider from his father. Smathers’s fastball has been clocked at 88 miles during a game and 91 in the bullpen.

“I thought they seemed like they were on the fastball, so I changed speeds more often,” Smathers said.

Bloomington improved to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the Sunkist League, while Summit dropped to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in league.

Contreras said Tuesday’s result should increase the Bruins’ confidence and show they can play with anybody.