Beckman clinches share of PCL title with 9-3 victory over Northwood; celebration on hold

Beckman third baseman Alec Gomez is greeted at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning Tuesday. (Photos courtesy Rosalene Ledendecker, For OC Sports Zone).

Beckman’s baseball team clinched a share of the Pacific Coast League title Tuesday afternoon defeating Northwood 9-3 at Northwood.

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But there wasn’t a big celebration after the game for the Patriots (19-4, 11-1). With three games left Beckman has a three game lead over Northwood (10-9-1, 8-4) and Irvine and has the edge in the season series against both teams.

Beckman can win the title outright with a victory over Northwood Friday at Beckman. It’s the eighth PCL title for the Patriots and their second straight.

“I know where this puts us in the league standings,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “We decided as a team that we needed to win two games to not share with anybody. That’s kind of why today was a little bit passive at the end of the game.

“I also want these guys to know they have a lot to play for from this point forward.”

Beckman had nine hits and three Northwood pitchers combined to walk six and hit two batters. The Timberwolves also made two errors and had numerous base-running blunders.

“The score turns out to be a six-run game and there were windows there where for Northwood make it closer,” Lavalle said. “I think the difference today was us putting a little bit more pressure on them defensively than they put on us.”

Justin Goldstein pitched the first four innings to get the victory, allowing three runs and striking out eight. Jakob Guardado pitched two scoreless innings and Sean Ledendecker pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

“Justin Goldstein, for the four innings he pitched, he was a batter away from getting into real trouble,” Lavalle said. “Just like last week, he threw his best pitches when he needed to throw them and to have a bullpen like that, we bring in Jakob Guardado, who is a junior. Three months ago, Jakob Guardado was a good pitcher, and today as we see on this field, he’s almost dominant. He’s made so many big improvements and he’s gotten bigger and he’s gotten stronger.

“A lot of guys had great days offensively. Nick McLain, again, had a big day, Logan Jackson had a big day.”

Nick McLain was 2 for 4 with a double and a two-run triple in the fourth inning. Jackson was 3 for 3 with three RBI, Sean McLain was 1 for 4 with a double and Alec Gomez was 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Gomez got the Patriots started off on the right foot when he belted a two-run home run in the first inning, driving in Sean McLain, who had walked.

“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit,” said the San Diego State commit. “I got it, I just tried to capitalize on it. This means a lot, league champs. We’re focusing on Friday now. We don’t want to share anything, we just want it all to ourselves.”

Northwood was held to four hits. But Northwood Coach Rob Stuart was more concerned about his team’s poor defense, which included missed plays in the infield and outfield and numerous base-running mistakes.

“There were mental errors and physical errors,” he said. “It was in the dozens. You give them credit, the better team wins, but it would have been nice if we had made it a competitive baseball game because it just really wasn’t.”

Northwood is now tied with Irvine for second place in the league.

“We just want to play well,” Stuart said. “You give people credit, the game isn’t that easy. But we sure did make it easy on them. There is nothing to be disappointed about, you just wish that your players play better. There is no kind of consistency to our mental preparation. But the reality is that we have seven guys who have never played varsity baseball and they’re is a learning curve and sometimes the game moves too fast.

“But it’s an enjoyable group, they’re a fun group, it’s a never say die group and they give it such a great effort.”

The Timberwolves cut the Beckman lead to 2-1 with a run in the second inning, cashing in on three walks. Matt Lawrence walked and eventually came home on a wild pitch.

Beckman added two runs in the top of the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Logan Jackson and an RBI double by C.J. Burnette.

In the bottom of the inning, Lawrence drove home Arthur Liu with a triple. But Beckman responded with three runs in the fourth, two coming on a triple by Nick McLain to put the Patriots up 7-2.

Jason Carrig delivered an RBI single for Northwood in the fourth to make it 7-3, but Beckman added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Arthur Liu started for Northwood and was relieved by Marcus Jacobsen in the fourth inning. German Valdez came on to pitch in the sixth inning.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com