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The Millikan baseball team put the rest of the Moore League on notice Wednesday night as they defeated Lakewood, 9-0, with a complete performance to take sole possession of first place.
Lakewood’s Aiden DeStouet and Millikan’s Nolan Patterson were dealing through the first two innings in a matchup between the Moore League unbeatens, as both pitchers went toe-to-toe with Patterson giving up one walk and DeStouet giving up one hit.
Lakewood looked like they were on the verge of scoring in the second inning after Tanner Miramontes walked and Anthony Zepeda singled, but Patterson settled in to get the third out and strand the runners.
Millikan’s bats came alive after Connor Patton was hit by a pitch, then advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third after bunt single by Anthony Minton.
With two outs, Anthony Pack hit an RBI single that pushed Patton across to give Millikan a 1-0 lead.
Patterson’s stellar night continued as he retired the Lancers in order thanks to a double play, letting his offense get right back to work.
While Patterson kept the Lancers’ bats at bay, Ben Keisler led an offensive downpour for the Rams as he finished the night with three doubles and three RBIs.
“Everything just started with rallies on rallies,” Keisler said. “Once we got that first run it was like ‘Now we can get comfortable in the offense’ and then we all just started swinging.”
The Rams bats continued to pop in the fourth inning as Enrique Lopez led off the inning with a single to center. Jacob Robinson grounded out to advance Lopez to third and Patten come up with an RBI single to score Lopez and extend the Rams’ lead to 2-0.
Ari Farrel followed that with a bunt single and advanced on a balk. Minton followed that with an RBI single to push the lead to 3-0.
After another 1-2-3 inning from Patterson, Millikan went right back to work as Lopez once again led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a groundout by Anthony Pack.
Perez scored after Ben Keisler hit an RBI double to push the Rams’ lead to 4-0. Keisler scored after Jason Robinson hit an RBI double to make it 5-0.
Patterson continued to cruise in the fifth as he once again put the Lancers down in order.
To finish things off, Millikan bats came alive in the sixth as they’d bat through the after Farrel singled to kick off the inning. After back-to-back outs, the Rams went to work as Pack walked, and Keisler followed with a 2-run double to make it 7-0.
After Ramirez took first on a hit-by-pitch, Lopez singled and Matthew Ness pinch-hit and delivered a 2-run single to make it 9-0 and cap the scoring.
While Millikan had a stellar night, coach Ron Keester believes the team is still continuing to grow.
“We’re getting better,” Keester said. “I thought we played even better than we did against Wilson. We’re heading in the right direction. What we’re doing offensively is what we’re working on, and tonight was indicative of what we’ve been doing in practice, so it’s nice to see what’s happening in practice translating into the game.”
Millikan will look to finish off an unbeaten first half of league play, hosting Compton on Friday before traveling to Poly on Tuesday. Lakewood is hosting Jordan on Friday and visits Wilson next Tuesday.
