ANAHEIM - The Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) Lancers won’t be defending their championship at the Hard 9 National Classic, but coach Andy Nieto said after a 3-1 loss to host Esperanza (Anaheim, Calif.) that his team had every opportunity to advance to the semifinals.
“That game was there to be had by both teams,” said Nieto, whose team defeated Esperanza in last year's tournament championship game 12-1. “But you have to play fundamental, clean baseball and we didn’t do that today. You can’t be walking people and giving up runs that way.”
The loss ended a streak of seven straight wins for the Lancers since losing standout third baseman Rio Ruiz to a blood clot on March 24. Prior to Tuesday, the Lancers had played close games, but they had done enough to collect the win.
“We have played some close games like this one,” Nieto said. “We have been getting good pitching and we’ve been playing good defense. But we didn’t play fundamental baseball today.”
Tyler Brashears and his El Toro
teammates advance to today's
semifinals at Cal-State Fullerton
Photo by Heston Quan
Ruiz, a potential first round draft pick in June, was an active participant in the dugout throughout the game, calling pitches, delivering balls to the umpire and even donning a helmet and playing the role of batboy.
“He’s driving everyone crazy,” said Nieto. “He just wants to contribute any way he can. He’s in good shape right now, but we are just waiting to get medical clearance. His return is uncertain right now, we are sort of in a wait-and-see mode.”
Ruiz added that staying in the game helps him stay connected to the game he loves.
“Baseball is my passion,” he said. “I’m doing whatever I can to help the team. They really pulled together after I got hurt. It didn’t work out today, but I know that we will bounce back. As far as my future is concerned, I’m hopeful that I can return, but we don’t know for sure.”
For Esperanza (13-2), the win kept alive a streak of 11 straight wins since the Aztecs started the season 2-2. According to assistant coach Marcus Jones, the Aztecs’ streak is a product of last year’s playoff run that ended with a loss in the Division I championship game to JW North.
“We have a lot of hungry guys,” said Jones. “We return most of the players from last year’s team except for our pitching staff. But our pitchers have really bought into the plan. We’re pitching downhill and getting the batter to hit the ball. We have a very good defense. We have two errors in this tournament, which is rare because our defense has been unbelievable.”
Trailing 1-0 after Bishop Amat (10-7) scored a single run in the top of the third, Esperanza countered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead.
Mark Tumlinson singled with one out and Kevin Viers doubled to right field to put runners at second and third. Brad Anderson followed with a sacrifice fly to right field that tied the game at 1-1.
Esperanza caught a break when Mitch Christensen beat out a seemingly routine grounder to second base. The next batter walked to load the bases and Ryan Aguilar grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Viers with the go-ahead run.
Bishop Amat had a chance to tie the game in the top of the fifth when Scott Hurst tripled with one out. The next batter grounded to the Esperanza first baseman, who threw home to catch Hurst for the out. The next batter grounded out to end the inning.
The Aztecs added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on three straight walks to open the frame and an error on a grounder to second base.
David Wilson got the win for Esperanza, limiting Bishop Amat to one run on five hits with eight strikeouts.
Esperanza will take on El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.), a 5-2 winner over Carlsbad (Carlsbad, Calif.), in one semifinal game at 7 p.m. at Cal-State Fullerton while co-host El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.), a 6-1 winner over Valley Vista (Surprise, Ariz.), will take on IMG Academies at 4:30 p.m. in the other. IMG defeated Spanish Fork 7-5.
Carlsbad takes on Bishop Amat at 1 p.m. at Esperanza today in the fifth place bracket while Spanish Fork meets Valley Vista at 4 p.m. at El Dorado.
In consolation bracket games, Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.) defeated James River (Midlothian, Va.) 8-1, Pacifica (Garden Grove, Calif.) topped Sunrise Mountain (Peoria, Ariz.) 10-4, Cypress (Cypress, Calif.) beat Ocean View (Huntington Beach, Calif.) 7-3 and Galena (Reno, Nev.) topped Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.) 2-0.
At El Dorado today, Bishop Alemany will play Pacifica at 10 a.m. and Cypress will play Galena at 1 p.m. for the right to play for the consolation championship tomorrow. In the 13th place bracket at Esperanza, James River takes on Sunrise Mountain at 10 a.m. and Ocean View plays Chaminade at 4 p.m.
IMG Academies (Bradenton, Fla.) 7, Spanish Fork (Utah) 5
IMG players call the Hard 9 National Classic their national championship and did they ever play like it from start to finish and from the top to the bottom of their order in an upset win over the nation's No. 11 team at El Dorado High School.
The Florida academy team (16-7) moves into today's semifinal against El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.), while Spanish Fork (12-2), the highest ranked team in the tournament, drops into the fifth-place bracket.
IMG jumped on losing pitcher Hayden Nielsen for three runs and four hits in the first inning, increased the lead to 7-1, then held on thanks to a game-ending defensive gem by third baseman Brett Hanewich with the potential tying run on base.
The Stanford-bound Hanewich, the winning pitcher in Monday's first-round 6-3 triumph over Cypress, was relegated to DH duties until head coach Jason Elias inserted him to start the seventh when Florida-bound shortstop/closer Cameron Varga entered.
With runners at the corner and two outs, Colin Argyle ground sharply to the hole between third and shortstop but before the ball could get there, Hanewich made a diving stab, got to his feet and fired a strike to second baseman Gus Polidor who just beat Spanish Fork's Jake Meservey to the bag.
"The play before I miss-communicated with our shortstop and didn't go after the ball," said Hanewich, who went 2-for-2 and reached base all four times with two additional walks. "I told myself to be aggressive this time. I knew the ball was in diving range and I got it. … Considering our opponent and situation that was definitely the biggest defensive play I've made this season."
Considering Nielsen entered 21-1 with a 1.45 ERA in his career, this was arguably IMG's biggest win against a high caliber pitcher this season.
Elias urged his team to be aggressive early and they obliged as leadoff man Eric Myskowski doubled to lead off the game and he promptly scored on a single by Phil DiLandro.
A two-out infield error scored another run and No. 7 hitter Mitchell Gallagher delivered a wind-blown double to make it 3-0 in the bottom of the first.
After a towering RBI double by the nation's No. 41 senior prospect Kayden Porter narrowed the gap to 3-1 in the third, Gallagher and the team's bottom of the lineup struck for three more in the bottom half to chase Nielsen.
Tyler Biggs, Gallagher, Tyler Helphenstine and Polidor singled consecutively and each had two hits in the game, leading a 12-hit attack.
"From top to bottom, we have guys who can produce," Gallagher said. "We just got a bunch of guys who can hit."
And it's nice to have someone like 6-foot-4, 230-pound southpaw Max Foody who can pitch.
The Florida State-signee, who figures to go early in the June draft, had Spanish Fork held completely in check and probably could have gone the distance.
But with his team leading 7-1 and runners at the corners and one out in the sixth, what looked to be an inning-ending double play was thrown away for an error, making it 7-2.
Spanish Fork took advantage as Rustin Gordon doubled and Ben Talbot singled, making it 7-4 before Sam Proctor relieved Foody and induced a ground out.
"Sure, I wanted to go all seven but overall it was just a great game, a great win," said Foody, who struck out five and gave up four hits.
Varga struck out the first two to start the seventh, but Spanish Fork got three straight hits – singles by Porter (3-for-4) and Meservey and a double from Lincoln Rivera – to make it interesting.
Hanewich made sure it didn't turn disastrous for IMG, which won its 10th game by two runs or less. It hopes to pull two more games out of its cap to end the season.
"We've had four different parts of our season and this is the last piece of the puzzle," Elias said. "Winning close games like this is just a testament to what these guys are made of. I don't know if nerves exist on this ball club. They just go out and play and treat the first inning like the seventh inning and vice versa. It's amazing to watch."
- Mitch Stephens
