Crean Lutheran standouts from left Brady McKay, Jaycee DeJong, Blake Armstrong, Ian McDermott and Dylan Maez after the win. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
With less than a handful of regular season games remaining and the North Hills League title still up for grabs, the La Habra High and Crean Lutheran baseball teams were poised as they took the field at La Habra on Wednesday afternoon for the first of a critical two-game series this week.
Crean Lutheran sophomore left hander Blake Armstrong allowed only one run over five innings to help Crean Lutheran capture a 7-2 victory. Armstrong allowed only four hits and earned his sixth victory of the season.
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The Saints moved into a tie with La Habra for second place in league and trail first-place Canyon by a game and half with three league games remaining. Canyon has two league games remaining.
A key moment in the game came when Armstrong was able to pitch out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the fifth inning when he got Bobby Brooks and Fernando Alatorre to fly out to shallow right field to end the inning. La Habra (16-9, 8-3) stranded nine base runners in the game.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but it felt good to compete and this win means a lot to us,” said Armstong, who snagged a vicious line drive off the bat of Bobby Fierro to end the third inning. “I guess I had a quick reaction, and I got a little lucky. We got the job done today.”
In the top of the third inning, Crean Lutheran sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs. The Saints (17-8, 6-3) got RBI hits from Jaycee DeJong, Davis Rutten, and Griffin Theetge and Ethan Cavlovic drew a bases loaded walk as Crean Lutheran jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
“Today we had good at bats, especially with two strikes, and we put the ball in play,” said Saints Coach Jake Haney. “Blake was really good. He’s such a fierce competitor and will do anything to win a game. He’s such as selfless player and teammate. In the fifth inning, I was thinking of taking him out of the game when they loaded the bases, but he told me, ‘I got this.’ We got it done today and this win will continue to build confidence for us.”
Ian McDermott added an RBI single in the fourth inning to help Crean Lutheran extend its lead to 5-0.
“We put the ball in play and made them play defense,” said McDermott, who had two hits and two RBI and made several fine catches in right field. “We want to go for the season sweep on Friday.”
La Habra got on the board in the fourth inning on a Jonah Mayo RBI single. Mayo had two hits in the game and hit a ball hard up the middle in the sixth inning, however Crean Lutheran shortstop Brady McKay turned it into a double play.
“A double play like that deflates a team and I think it took the air out of them,” said McKay, who added two hits and scored two runs. “Our hitting has been up and down, but today we battled with two strikes.”
Dylan Maez got on base twice and scored two runs as the Saints kept the pressure on La Habra.
“We had good energy today, we executed well and got the bat on the ball; it’s a good road win for us,” said Maez.
McDermott smacked an RBI double in the sixth and Crean Lutheran added another run on an errant infield throw at the Saints upped its lead to 7-1. The Highlanders finished off the scoring with a run in the seventh.
DeJong pitched the final two innings to close out the win for the Saints. He was also on base three times and scored a run to go along with his RBI.
La Habra Coach Jack Brooks was disappointed.
“We were terrible offensively; the name of the game is timely hitting, and we didn’t get it today,” said Brooks. “We had chances offensively, but we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We have got to play better in order to win.”
Notes:
— La Habra has 3 games remaining, Friday against Crean Lutheran and two next week against Canyon.
—- The Saints also have three games remaining, Friday against La Habra and two next week against Pacifica.
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