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It’s not too often the word “undefeated” gets thrown around in a Moore League baseball season. Long Beach Poly had the first Moore League undefeated season in over 30 years last season and Millikan followed suit this year, using aggressive offense and quality pitching to rout Poly 14-1 at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field Friday night.
Millikan manager Ron Keester said the thought of stamping a perfect 12-0 season wasn’t even on his mind throughout the game.
“It’s the first time I’ve thought about it all day, you know I didn’t want this game to feel so much bigger than all the others,” said Keester. “And yet, they still came out and dominated.”
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It was a team effort from Millikan today, with multiple starters recording hits and every starter getting on base at some point. Center fielder Anthony Pack shone brightest, going 3/3 with a walk and two RBIs. Third baseman Ben Keisler also added 2 hits and 2 RBIs.
“Everyone contributed today,” said Pack following the game. “I wasn’t trying to do too much, with runners on bases I was trying to score them and some of my swings turned out my way and drove runners across.”
Millikan’s offense was quick, aggressive, and explosive all night long. Their first two runs came on a single up the middle from Keisler that drove home Anthony Minton and Anthony Pack. Millikan struck again in the bottom of the third, with Pack mashing a huge triple over the head of Poly left fielder Antonio Yepez that scored Nate Berumen from first, with Pack also coming around to score on fielding errors from Poly.
Millikan blew the game open in the bottom of the 4th, with a 2 run RBI single from Andrew Perez and an RBI single from Anthony Pack making the score 8-1. Millikan never looked back after that, adding 6 more runs in the top of the 6th including more RBIs from Ben Keisler, Ryan Cuffaro, and Christian Shaw.
“These kids have been getting better and better, improving every day, to the point where our offense can have nights like this,” said Keester. “Pack and Keisler, those guys have come up big with key hits with runners on all season long. The only way we can score 14 runs is with everyone hitting, but those two guys in particular have really stepped up over the past few games.”
On the pitching side, Nolan Patterson got the start for the Rams and pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two hits, one run, three walks, and striking out three batters, while Owen Waytas came in relief and pitched 3.2 shutout innings. Poly countered with starting pitcher Joshue Sayre, who surrendered 7 runs on 5 hits.
Keester praised the consistency of the pitching staff throughout the season.
“The pitching has always been consistent, the defense has always been good. The difference in the last couple weeks has been the offense and how it’s performed to compliment great pitching.”
It was a frustrating night for the Jackrabbits as they couldn’t quiet Millikan’s bats and struggled offensively. Poly’s lone run came on a double off the right field wall from Sebastian Morales. Poly achieved just 5 hits and also struggled defensively, recording 5 errors that helped Millikan’s potent offense to continue attacking and cashing in runs.
Millikan now can relax and celebrate their incredible accomplishment of going undefeated, one that Pack believes is a testament to the hard work the Rams have put in all year.
“It’s surreal, we worked for this once, we worked hard in practice and never took practice off,” said Pack. “This was earned, this was worked for, and we’re all really proud of what we accomplished.”
