The562’s coverage of Millikan athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Curtis Boyer.
Millikan’s thrilling playoff run came to an end Tuesday as the young Rams lost to No. 3 nationally-ranked Santa Margarita 8-0 in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
After a stellar outing from Austin Paul in the first round, Millikan started sophomore Thomas Ramsey against an Eagles lineup that featured eight starters with commitments to play NCAA Division 1 baseball.
Ramsey got off to a shaky start in the first inning walking two batters, but settled in to strand the runners in the top of the first inning.
“I didn’t pitch a whole lot this season,” Ramsey said. “So when I got the call to start I had to really go out there and shove.”
While Ramsey was able to minimize the Eagles’ bats, the visitors got on the board in the second inning after Luke Johnson hit an RBI single that pushed Zach Fjelstad across after he led off with a double to give Santa Margarita a 1-0 lead.
Millikan had a chance to score to tie the game after Anthony Minton led the bottom of the second with a leadoff walk. Wyatt Ormonde then reach on an error and Minton was able to advance to put runners on the corners.
But, Santa Margarita’s Sammy Cova struck out the next three batters to get out of the jam.
“Today we knew it was going to be a tall task,” Millikan coach Ron Keester said. “We just wanted to give ourselves a chance and we did that in the second inning, but we just weren’t able to capitalize on that.”
The Eagles added runs in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings to put the game out of reach.
While the Rams’ season ended, Keester was happy with what the team was able to accomplish with their senior leadership and stellar play from their underclassmen that started.
“I’m proud of this group,” Keester said. “I’m proud of what we did. We’re really young, but it was the seniors that carried this group. It was the Austin Pauls, the Cameron Hegamins, Demetri Syrengelas and Wyatt Ormonde’s. Those are the guys that helped the underclassmen to as a group get to where we are and those are the ones that carried us to this point. To win 21 games, where we start four sophomores and one freshman. It’s really the seniors that helped us get to this point.”
Millikan will have plenty of talent returning as Ramsey, Anthony Minton, Connor Patton, Andrew Perez, Anthony Pack, Ben Keisler and Adrian Ramirez will be returning next season.
