FOOTHILL TIGHT AT THE TOP
Valencia claims top spot in league play
It definitely wasn’t pretty. The Valencia and Saugus baseball teams combined for 19 walks and hit batters in the two teams’ final matchup of the Foothill League season on Friday afternoon at Valencia High.
But Valencia took full advantage of Saugus’ 13 free bases, using a four-run third and a seven-run sixth to cruise to a 12-2 win and sit alone atop the league standings.
“The end result was what I was hoping for,” said Valencia head coach Mike Killinger, whose team improves to 17-6 overall and 7-2 in league. “But how it happened, (it wasn’t) really (what we expected). It was a little sloppy on both sides. We both walked a bunch of guys, they hit a bunch of guys so it wasn’t a clean game.”
Saugus (15-7 overall, 6-3 Foothill League) starting pitcher Tony Jacob Jr. looked to be in control in the first two innings, despite giving up a leadoff double deep to center to Scott Ogrin.
Jacob Jr. struck out four straight, the final two batters of the first frame and the first two of the second, with a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the third.
But that’s where things got shaky.
The freshman lefty hit Jake Biscailuz to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt, a passed ball, a walk, an error — that brought home the Vikings’ first run — and a groundout to first, the Vikes had runners at second and third with two outs.
A hit batter loaded the bases, and three consecutive walks later, Valencia had a 4-1 lead without recording a hit in the inning.
“The only way I can describe it is the strike zone got away from us today,” said Saugus head coach John Maggiora. “We hit six and walked seven. That’s the ballgame. You give that many free passes, a good team is going to capitalize and all it takes is a hit here, a hit there.”
Saugus cut the deficit in half in the top of the fourth after Valencia starter Chase Farrell loaded the bases with a single and back-toback walks.
Matt Diaz’s sacrifice f ly scored Tyler Grissom from third.
Valencia would get the run back in the bottom of the fourth, when Ben Fariss’ RBI single scored Cody Minnis after Saugus relief pitcher Brandyn Cruz hit back-toback hitters to load the bases.
The Vikes broke open the game in the bottom of the sixth, scoring seven runs all with two outs.
Saugus walked three and hit two batters in the frame, but Tyler Erne (1-for-3, two RBIs), Minnis and Ogrin (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) each had timely hits to bring in five of those runs.
“I don’t really think it matters (how we win),” said Minnis, who finished the day 2-for-3 with a twoRBI double in the sixth to make it 10-2, “Just getting an overall team win matters overall. This one basically put us in first place. It gave us a couple games leeway, but it was just big. We needed it.”
Despite only putting up two runs on the scoreboard, the Cents hit the ball well.
Grissom went 2-for-3, while Joey Mendez went 2-for- 4 for Saugus.
But the Vikes turned double plays in the third and the fifth, keeping Saugus out of the batter’s box. Ogrin made a diving catch in center field to end the sixth, and it seemed like every ball up the middle was grabbed by Trace Eldridge at short or Chris Mueller at second.
“We hit some balls hard, but they made plays,” Maggiora said. “We told the guys, ‘You did a lot better offensively than two runs,’ but we just gave them too many free passes. We tell them that the strike zone got away from us, we tell them we have a good West Ranch team that has won nine straight coming in to (play) Wednesday. And you tell them to get back after it. That’s what it’s about.”