After an opening loss to Mt SAC, the Warriors have reeled off three straight league wins with their third coming Tuesday in a 13-4 win against Long Beach City.
“We have played hard, I’m glad to see that we didn’t let that first loss get to us, and hopefully we can continue to get the same kind of effort for the rest of the season” Beau Hopps, pitcher, said.
The Warriors, who play Pasadena city at home today, were winning, 6-4, in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out when reliever Travis Goins induced an inning-ending double play.
“The double play was huge in that situation,” coach Nate Fernley said.
The Warriors scored two runs in the bottom half of that inning, and tacked on five more in the eighth.
The momentum shift helped the pitchers also: They got 4 and 2/3 innings of scoreless pitching from their bullpen, which included two innings from relief ace Hopps.
“Since I made the move from the bullpen, I don’t have to worry as much about making it deep into games.” Hopps said. “You can throw your hardest for a couple of innings and preserve the lead”
In combination with the relief efforts, the warriors offense had a great day, led by outfielder Billy Madden who had three hits including a home run and three runs batted in.
“I felt real good yesterday, I went into the game with the same mindset that I do in every game and it worked for me.” Madden said.
Infielders Bob Hosken and Dan Gleiberman also added three hits and three RBIs each in the win, a game that the team feels is a confidence boost as it moves forward in the season.
With two games coming up against lesser teams in the conference in Pasadena City and Los Angeles City, the team hopes to be 5-1 heading into a big game against undefeated Cerritos College Tuesday.
“Hopefully we don’t overlook anyone before that game, but because we are so young we tend to do that,” Madden said.
The young team has been getting significantly better on defense and in the bullpen, two weaknesses coming into the season.
Improving seems to be the main focus of the team, and Fernley likes what he sees.
“We have been playing well, throughout the year we have made good progress” Fernley said.
