Great Oak, Murrieta Mesa also find success with early week wins
— In their last meeting against Temecula Valley roughly a month ago the Vista Murrieta baseball team allowed three first inning runs en route to a 6-2 defeat. Tuesday afternoon, it was the Broncos getting off to a fast start in scoring five first inning runs on the way to their 9-4 victory. Game three of the series is on Thursday afternoon at Temecula Valley.
Charlie Combs started for Temecula Valley and found trouble from the outset as Ryland Duson doubled, Joseph Castillo was hit by a pitch, and Vaughn Neckar walked in the bottom of the first. An RBI sacrifice fly from Jerrad Gonzalez scored Duson and Joe Gutterman singled home Castillo to make it 2-1 Broncos with no outs. Combs walked in a run, another scored in a rundown, and one more on an errant pickoff throw.
The Golden Bears found themselves trailing 5-1 after a frame. In the top of the first Grant Yzermans doubled to leadoff the game against Matthew Gorham, who started for Vista Murrieta, and scored on Chris Paciolla’s groundout.
Gorham remarked “I didn’t really feel my best today but still found a way to get the job done. I’ve started in travel ball so it’s not a hard switch and will do whatever’s asked of me to help us bring the title home.
Gonzalez had his second RBI of the day in the third with a single up the middle that scored Neckar who singled and advanced to third on consecutive wild pitches. The Broncos led 6-1 after three.
Temecula Valley struck back for three runs in the top of the fourth to pull within 6-4 on a solo homer from Zach Anderson and two additional runs scoring on an error and sacrifice bunt. However, the Bears couldn’t hold it at a two-run deficit as Vista Murrieta struck for three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Neckar had an RBI single, Gutterman was hit by a pitch scoring a run, and another was walked home.
Vista Murrieta led 9-4 after four and won by that same margin although Nathan Lee had to escape a two on one out jam as he allowed two Temecula Valley singles sandwiched around a strikeout to start the inning.
Broncos coach George Jones remarked “We had great at bats in the first and I was happy to see that along with the answer in the fourth. Pitching has been our strength this year and today we put together a nice offensive day in support of those guys. It was nice to see.”
In other Southwestern League action, Great Oak took a 2-0 series lead over host Murrieta Valley with a 9-0 victory that saw the long ball from Michael Rodda, Christian Smith, and Gavin Fien. Shea Lake threw six shutout innings for the Wolfpack, while Lucas Smith capped the game off with his inning of solid relief.
Murrieta Mesa got back in the win column after dropping five straight league games. Senior outfielder Derek Hurtado put the Rams ahead 1-0 with his solo shot off of Puma starting pitcher Kameron Brodeur in the third inning. Chaparral’s Cody Stordahl would single and eventually score to tie things up in the fifth inning before relief pitcher Brady Pavlosky gave up 3 runs to Murrieta Mesa in the sixth. With a 4-2 win, the Rams, who were led at the plate by, Jared Joachim (2-3, RBI), a senior transfer from Chaparral, evened the series at one game apiece as the rubber match approaches.
A quick look at the SWL standings shows Vista Murrieta (7-1), Temecula Valley (6-2) and Great Oak (5-3) in a tight race at the top, while the fight to stay out of last place has Chaparral, Murrieta Valley, and Murrieta Mesa all tied at 2-6. Temecula Valley’s Zach Anderson, who is currently leading the Southwestern league with 16 hits, tops the league with 27 hits overall (tied with Great Oak’s Michael Rodda), and has a league leading .500 batting average.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached at socaltrekkie@gmail.com. Article contributions made by Valley News Sports Editor, JP Raineri. Sports info, events, pictures, and tips can be sent to sports@reedermedia.com.
