|
Central Union High's Lorenzo Silva rounds third base as he makes his way to home in the first inning of Tuesday's game against Calexico High in El Centro. (FERNANDO ACOSTA JR. PHOTO / April 17, 2012) |
On a warm and windless night perfect for baseball, Central Union High used a big first-inning rally to pull into a three-way tie for first place in the Imperial Valley League race with a 9-0 victory over visiting Calexico High on Tuesday night.
The Central victory, along with Brawley High’s 3-2 win over Southwest, means the Spartans, Bulldogs and Wildcats are all tied for first place with one loss each.
“It’s a good spot to be in,” Central coach Gene Martin said. “We’re playing decent ball, and the kids are taking pride in their play and coming around.”
The Spartans scored the eight runs on seven hits and a walk off sophomore pitcher Steven Panela in the bottom of the first inlning.
Senior leadoff hitter Isaiah Cruz opened the inning with a single and scored, and came up again with two men on and crushed a triple, scoring on a passed ball.
“I’m up there to set the tone, I have to do it every single game, that’s what they expect,” Cruz said. “This game was to get on top and we’ve been practicing hard and we wanted that to transfer to the game.”
Central junior Ricky Lopez came up with the bases loaded and shot a double down the right-field line to score two runs.
“I went up thinking I needed to put the ball in play and it was fastball down the middle … I guess he didn’t think I could hit it,” Lopez said.
Calexico coach Ricky Guzman got strong relief pitching from Diego Briseño who shut out Central over the next three innings giving up just one run on an Alex Dominguez double and Mario Vasquez who didn’t give up a run in the fifth and six innings.
“I went against the grain, I didn’t put my team in a position to win,” Guzman said. “Once we were down I made some changes and we played better baseball.”
Pitching-wise, however, the night belonged to Central sophomore Dominquez who dominated the Bulldogs, striking out seven and walking two and surrendering hits to only Jerry Arguelles and Christian Viegas.
Despite the early lead his team gave him, Dominguez pitched with a purpose.
“I pitched like it was 0-0, I wanted to concentrate, I wanted to help my team,” Dominguez said. “I just pitched my game … threw strikes and let my team help me defensively.”
Calexico (7-11, 3-1 IVL) hosts Palo Verde Valley on at 3:15 p.m. Friday while Central (7-10, 3-1 IVL) has an IVL bye on Friday before it hosts Palo Verde Valley at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“The team is working hard, starting to believe,” Martin said. “They haven’t rounded the corner yet but I think we’re at the corner.”
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
