Moreno Valley pulls out all the stops

Vikings’ win over Buena advances them to D5 final against Burroughs

MORENO VALLEY >> One win away from a championship game, it was all hands on deck for the Moreno Valley baseball team.

So it was that the biggest pitches Tuesday were thrown by a starter who wasn’t even listed as a pitcher on the preseason roster and who had just one win in the regular season and the biggest hit was delivered by a 125-pound sophomore batting out of the No. 9 spot.

It all worked for the Vikings in a 4-1 victory over Buena. The triumph sent Moreno Valley to Cal State Fullerton for the Division 5 final Friday or Saturday against Burroughs. The top-seeded Vikings (273) will be playing in their third final in six years, the most of any of the division finalists.

“I’m not Frank, I’m my own person,” said Moreno Valley starter Aidan Magana, referring to the Vikings’ dominant act, Frank Camarillo. “And I do what I do.”

Magana headed what Vikings coach Brad Allcock called a committee. His job was to get as deep into the game as he could and hand the baton to a teammate.

It turned out to be three innings but it included the moment of highest drama. The game was still scoreless in the third and Moreno Valley was having trouble solving the sliders of Buena starter Ty Weeks.

Buena loaded the bases on a bunt single and two walks, and Jacob Martinez had worked his way from 0-2 to a full count. Coming off back-to-back walks, Magana had his back to the wall.

“It was crazy,” he said. “Scary. I knew if I didn’t get it done, I was going to be out of there.

“They called a fastball, but I didn’t trust it.

So I stepped back and we changed to my slurve and it worked.”

Said Allcock: “That kid is a gamer. No matter what the situation is, he’s got confidence in himself.”

It turned out it was going to be his last pitch anyway, but that pitch was a called third strike.

An inning later, Moreno Valley finally found the answer to Weeks, scoring three times in the fourth. The big blow was a twoout, run-scoring double to the gap in left-center by No. 9 hitter George Banuelos.

“I’m not that good against off-speed pitches,” he said. “But I timed that one.”

After Buena (19-9-1) cut the deficit to 3-1 in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk, Banuelos delivered an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. He doubled again, took third on a wild pitch and scored on an errant throw.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Magana said of the finals berth. “We did it as a team.”