The562’s baseball coverage in 2025 is sponsored by the Millikan, Long Beach Poly, and Lakewood baseball boosters.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
Almost three years after a Millikan left-hander named Myles Patton had 13 strikeouts against Long Beach Poly, history repeated itself on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.
There’s a new southpaw in East Long Beach with terrific swing-and-miss stuff, and it seems his best is still yet to come. Junior lefty Daunte Bell toed the rubber on Friday night in his first big Moore League start, and he threw a complete game shutout in a 1-0 victory over Poly, giving Millikan their 18th league win in a row.
“Daunte was incredible tonight, and I’m glad he finished,” said Millikan head coach Ron Keester after Bell’s gem. “To come out in his first Moore League start and do that, it’s pretty cool. We’ve seen it coming, we’ve seen the stuff. He’s been electric all year, and tonight he was really something.”
Bell credited his two-seam fastball and curveball for helping him rack up the strikeouts on Friday night, as he was able to elevate the former and bury the latter for swinging strikes. But he was also able to land both offerings in the strike zone to catch batters looking, and in the process introduced himself to the rest of the Moore League in style.
“I was super excited. It’s my first big game, so obviously the jitters were up in the first inning, but once I settled down, I felt like nothing could stop me and I was the best out there,” Bell said. “It feels so good just to be on this mound again and be in front of all these fans, the crowd, I love the energy of this. I just told myself to go out there and just do my thing.”
Bell retired the first 13 batters he faced, fanning eight of them. He struck out the side in both the 2nd and the 5th, racking up 10 K’s through those first five frames. He allowed just four baserunners all night, with only one single for the Jackrabbits.
Millikan needed him to be sharp, because Poly’s ace had a night of his own. Senior righty Daylen Carey allowed just one run in seven innings of work, with Millikan collecting only three hits and a pair of walks.
“He was really good,” said Keester of the opposing starter. “He was able to locate two, if not three pitches and be able to use both sides of the plate, and he got ahead. I thought he was very impressive. I was really impressed with him, and I was really impressed with our guy. Typical 1-0 game at Blair Field.”
Carey got help from his defense as well, with sophomore catcher Caleb Safotu throwing out a potential basestealer, and senior shortstop Izaiyah Gutierrez flashing the leather for a great diving stop to rob Millikan’s Ben Keisler of a sure single.
Millikan was able to break through in the top of the 6th thanks to a leadoff double by No. 9 hitter Matthew Ness, who blooped a double down the left field line to start a rally. He would eventually score on a pair of wild pitches, giving the Rams all the offense they’d need.
“We were kind of struggling to start it out, but that’s okay, because we had Daunte throwing almost a perfect game, he was really good,” said Ness. “But my approach was going the opposite way, because (Carey) was throwing a lot of outside fastballs, and his fastball was his best pitch all night. So I went the other way, and even though it wasn’t the barrel I was looking for, that’s where I was looking to go with it.”
Poly was able to get a runner to scoring position in both the 6th and 7th innings, capitalizing on two-out walks by Bell, but they could never get past second base. In the 6th, Bell came off the mound to field a swinging bunt and slipped as he turned to throw. His toss to first was in the dirt, but fill-in first baseman Lucas Helig made the scoop and appeared to just keep his foot on the bag to record the final out of that inning.
“I gotta give all the props to my boy Lucas, he saved me on that,” said Bell. “I feel like that was the momentum shift for the game. That’s really what got our team going, that energy up. And I feel like after that, we knew we had this game.”
Carey represented Poly’s final out of the night in the 7th, and he sent a fly ball down the right field line where Ness was able to range over and secure the final out, improving the Rams to 3-0 in league play and giving Bell the shutout.
Poly will be back in action next Tuesday as they travel to face Calvary Chapel while Millikan will be hosting Cabrillo on Wednesday.
