Murrieta Mesa's Giron blanks Murrieta Valley

MURRIETA >> The Murrieta Mesa baseball team on Monday watched Murrieta Valley score four runs in the seventh inning to prevail.

Murrieta Mesa junior Josiah Giron made sure there was no late-inning drama in the second matchup of the three-game Southwestern League series.

Giron went the distance and tossed a two-hitter as the Rams evened things up with a 4-0 victory Tuesday afternoon at Murrieta Mesa High School.

“With an early lead my focus was to just throw strikes and work from ahead in counts which was something I feel like I did pretty well today,” Giron said. “That was definitely a tough loss yesterday, but I think we showed just how resilient a team we are with this performance.”

Murrieta Mesa (11-2 overall, 3-2 in league) sits in a three-way tie for first place in the standings heading into today’s series finale at Murrieta Valley.

“As a coach you lose sleep over games like Monday, but that’s baseball and I couldn’t be more pleased with how we responded to that adversity today,” Rams coach Michael Nagamatsu

said. “This is a tough league with a lot of talent from top to bottom, and it’s a race I expect will come down to that final day.”

Murrieta Mesa leadoff hitter Jorge Abarca drove the second pitch he saw from Murrieta Valley starter Bobby Solorio up the middle for a single and came around to score on a double by CJ Moran. Solorio escaped further harm by getting a flyout and strikeout to end the inning.

The Rams doubled their lead in the third inning, when Abarca drew a walk with one out and later scored on an error. Solorio recorded back-to-back strikeouts to once again limit the damage to a single run.

Murrieta Valley’s best scoring opportunity came in the fourth inning when the Nighthawks (12-4, 3-2) had two runners on with

one out. Bear Bachmeier reached on an error and Josiah Generoso walked, but Giron escaped the jam by getting a flyout and strikeout to end the threat.

Murrieta Mesa added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth inning. Moran doubled off the wall in left-center field and came around to score on a single by Brayden Ferguson, and Trevor Anctil’s RBI single brought home Ferguson to give the Rams a 4-0 lead.

Giron retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced Tuesday afternoon, with the only runner reaching safely on a hit by pitch leading off the top of the seventh. Giron struck out three batters and issued only one walk. He needed only 78 pitches to complete the game.

Moran, Wicks, and Anctil all went 2 for 3 at the plate for Murrieta Mesa.

PHOTOS BY WILL LESTER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Murrieta Mesa starting pitcher Josiah Giron delivers a pitch against visiting Murrieta Valley on Tuesday. Giron needed just 78pitches to shut out the Nighthawks 4-0.

Murrieta Mesa’s C.J. Moran is safe at third on a wild pitch as Murrieta Valley’s Jesiah Generoso makes a late tag.