The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Lakewood has been known for its defense this season, but Wednesday afternoon the Lancers showed their offensive potential as they took on Cabrillo at Blair Field to open Moore League action.
After Cabrillo took a quick 1-0 lead thanks to a pair of steals from Aaron Strawberry to put the Jaguars in position to score, the Lancers were ready to answer.
Lakewood responded emphatically, scoring 14 runs in three innings as the Lancers cruised to a 14-1 victory in six innings.
“We don’t score a lot of runs,” Lakewood head coach Spud O’Neil said. “So, today was something new for us.”
Matt Maines was one of many that got things going Wednesday against Cabrillo’s Micah Afoa.
“We’ve been playing some tough teams,” Maines said. “It was good to be out here at Blair Field and get a win.”
Maines went 3-4 with a double, triple and four RBIs.
In the bottom of the first Mason Yorba put down a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line for an infield single to kick start the Lancers.
Yorba went on to score to tie the game after a pair of steals and a Maines RBI triple down the right field line gave Lakewood the lead.
After giving up the first run, Lakewood’s Adrian Arellano settled in to retire 9 of the next 11 batters to finish with 7 strikeouts in his four innings.
“It worked out really well for us,”O’Neil said. “Our goal was to play great defense and get the ball going.”
Lakewood’s most impressive offensive output was in the fourth inning as the Lancers scored nine runs as they used a mix of small ball and took advantage of some Cabrillo errors. Nohea Mapu had the most notable knock with a 3-run single that was perfectly placed.
“This wasn’t what we wanted,” Cabrillo coach Garrett Young said. “We made a couple walks, had a couple errors, and gave up a few runs. But our guys have progressed a long way. I’m proud of them overall.”
Both teams will be at home on Friday afternoon as Lakewood hosts Jordan and Cabrillo hosts Poly.
