The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Lakewood offense didn’t make a ton of noise on Thursday evening, but the Lancers did just enough to win. Thanks to a two-run rally without the benefit of a hit, the Lancers were able to edge Wilson, 2-1, in a key Moore League clash on the Lakewood campus.
The game was originally scheduled for Bohl Diamond at Blair Field, but due to poor field conditions after recent rainfall, the Lancers had one of the few playable diamonds in the city.
Lakewood pushed across both runs in the second inning, winning the game thanks to a bases loaded walk and then a one-out sac fly. That rally turned an early 1-0 deficit into an early 2-1 lead, which ended up the final margin as sophomore Joseph Dizon pitched the final three innings to secure the save.
“That’s our whole goal is to keep us in the game with our pitching,” said Lakewood head coach Spud O’Neil after the win. “And we work very hard on that. Obviously you have to have talent on the mound, and we think we do; we have three, four or five pitchers that can pitch like they did today. So if that happens, then we’ve got to find a way to score, and that’s been difficult in some of our games, but we’ve played really well and we’ve learned together.”
Wilson took the lead in the top of the first after a leadoff walk to Ben Orduno, who would steal second, move to third on an Aaron Mingo base hit, then come home on an RBI grounder from Taylor Kirk. The Bruins outhit the Lancers, 4-2, but were unable to build off their early tally.
Lakewood starting pitcher Adrian Arellano went four innings, allowing a run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts to earn the win. Dizon did a nice job in relief, and was able to pick up the save by recording the final nine outs. He allowed just a hit and a walk while striking out a pair.
O’Neil said he was planning to bring in a closer for the seventh, but wanted to give his sophomore the chance to close out the game against the bottom of the Wilson order. Dizon had pitched well in his first two frames, and rewarded his coach’s trust in him by going 1-2-3 in the seventh, ending the game with a strikeout swinging.
“I was fired up. Coach was asking me ‘Do you want that last inning?’ and I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” said Dizon after the game. “I felt really good, just focused on throwing strikes and I knew I had my defense to back me up. But I was just focused on throwing strikes today.”
The Lancers took the lead in the second inning as the first four batters reached base safely. Anthony Zepeda and Drake Merrill were each hit by a pitch, then Andres Roman and Alex Ortiz drew walks to bring home Lakewood’s first run. Two batters later, Brandon Luna lifted a sac fly to center field, which drew a terrific throw home by Wilson center fielder Diego Orozco, but Merrill was able to score from third as the ball bounced away from Wilson’s Dawson Precht behind the plate.
Wilson put runners on base in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but were unable to find the big hit to cash them in. Orozco drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth to put a man on for Mingo in the heart of the order, but he was promptly picked off on a great move by Dizon on the mound.
“I think the difference today is they just played a little cleaner than we did,” said Wilson head coach Andy Hall. “We out hit them 4-2, but also gave them that big inning in the second with two walks and two hit batters, and it’s a little tough to swallow … You have to play clean baseball at every level, especially when you’re playing Lakewood because they put a lot of pressure on you just because they’re Lakewood. And hats off to them, they got the W today, but we can’t wait to play ‘em next time.”
Jaaden Romero did a nice job out of the Wilson bullpen, going 3.2 innings allowing no runs on two hits, two walks and three punchouts. He inherited a bases loaded, no out jam in that second inning and was able to record a pair of strikeouts sandwiched between the Luna sac fly to minimize the damage and keep the Bruins close.
Next up on the league schedule, Lakewood is set to take on Millikan and Wilson will face Poly in a key Moore League doubleheader next Wednesday at Blair Field. However, those games will depend on weather and field conditions, so stay tuned to The562 for schedule updates.
