Tuesday action left no questions answered about who is going to budge at the top of the Southwestern League standings. In fact, all it did was give some excitement to the bottom of the standings with one more team getting out of that tie for last place.
The Vista Murrieta Broncos walked away victorious over host Great Oak, 5-3, as Matt Gorham picked up the win. The southpaw went four and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out three. Nathan Lee threw two and a third innings in relief out of the bullpen. Lee recorded the last seven outs to earn the save for Vista Murrieta (8-2).
Lake took the loss for Great Oak, lasting six innings, allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out three and walking zero. The Broncos saw the ball well racking up nine hits in the game. Luke Matthews and Joseph Castillo each had multiple hits for Vista Murrieta. Matthews led the Broncos with four hits in four at bats. Shea Lake went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead Great Oak (6-4) in hits. Great Oak is now 2 games behind the leaders but are holding their ground in third place by three games.
Temecula Valley took down Chaparral in a pitcher’s duel. Both teams were strong on the bump, but Temecula Valley came away victorious, 2-1, behind Charlie Combs, who allowed just four hits to the Pumas. The ace lasted seven innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out one and walking zero. Andrew Spurlock took the loss for Chaparral. The pitcher allowed four hits and two runs over two innings, striking out one and walking zero.
Matt Tylman, Chris Paciolla, Grant Yzermans, Erik Jeong, and Steven Kirtides each managed one hit to help Temecula Valley. Cody Stordahl went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead Chaparral in hits.
In their second meet up of the year, Murrieta Valley (3-7) claimed the series against Murrieta Mesa with their 11-4 win over the host Rams. The Nighthawks won their first match-up, 2-0. Things got out of hand early for Cole Warner, who took the loss for Murrieta Mesa (3-7) with his two and a third innings, allowing six hits and six runs while striking out two batters and walking one.
Pitchers Aidan Lambert and Noah Benavides teamed up for a no-hitter through the fifth inning for Murrieta Valley, which only gave up four hits overall. The host Rams showed a sign of life in the sixth inning when they tallied three runs with RBIs by Carter Garate, Daniel Gonzalez, and CJ Moran.
The Nighthawks, who had 13 hits in the game, were led by Ian Mowad and Ayden Tuascher with their three hits apiece and seven RBIs between the two. The win puts both teams in a tie for second to last place, which belongs to Chaparral currently with a 2 -8 record.
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