In a battle for conference supremacy, the baseball team got good pitching, timely hitting and solid defense in defeating the East L.A. Huskies, 4-3, Tuesday.
“Our pitching was good; our hitting came through, and we made some defensive plays,” sophomore Andy Magana said. “We pretty much played a complete game and that’s what you need to do against a team like ELAC.”
Both teams will go at it again, in the rubber match of the series today at 2 p.m. at East L.A.
“It’s going to be another dogfight, and we’re looking forward to it,” coach Greg Bergeron said.
With the victory, the Warriors are riding a seven-game unbeaten streak, improving to 14-2, 7-2. Meanwhile, the Huskies lost for the first time this season dropping to 17-1, 8-1.
“It feels good to beat those guys,” sophomore Bart Babineaux said. “They’re loud and they run their mouths, so it feels great to beat them.”
Sophomore Ryan Sharman got the game and crowd going with a monstrous solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Huskies responded the following inning scoring two unearned runs on fielding errors.
“We made a couple of errors, but we bounced back,” Bergeron said. “Magana made a great diving play in the hole to save a run, and our pitchers picked off two runners.”
In the bottom of the third inning with two strikes, two outs, and the bases loaded, freshman Larry Williams singled to center to drive in two runs. By the end of three, the Warriors led, 3-2.
“Our guys came to play,” Bergeron said. “We beat them with our game. We got some bunts down, and got a couple of key hits.”
Babineaux scored the decisive winning run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a squeeze play.
“That’s how we do it,” Sharman said. “Babineaux led it off with single; he stole second, then we bunted him over to third and squeezed him home.”
After the fourth inning, the Warrior’s pitching staff took over and shut down the highest scoring offense in the South Coast Conference.
“They are a good team,” Babineaux said. “They have good hitters; one through nine they can swing the bats.”
Going into the game, both freshmen Kris Medlen and Joel Weeks knew if the opportunity arose they would pitch two innings apiece.
“I told those guys that I would use them for two innings each if we had too,” Bergeron said. “We had the lead going into the sixth inning, and put the game in their hands.”
East L.A. coach James Heins said that while the loss was bitter, the Warriors played a good all around game.
“It would be tougher if we lost to Compton or L.A. City,” Heins said. “Take your hats of to them. They did a good job of shutting us down.”
