La Habra was led by (from left) Fernando Alatorre, Angel Acuna, Bobby Brooks, David Arias and Isaac Aguirre in the win Saturday. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
La Habra pitchers Angel Acuna, David Arias and Isaac Aguirre held La Serna in check and the Highlanders came away with an 8-3 nonleague baseball victory over the Lancers Saturday afternoon at La Habra.
Acuna pitched 4 1/3 innings and struck out seven and Arias and Aguirre were effective in relief as La Habra snapped a two-game losing streak.
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“My fastball, curveball and cutter were working well, and I was just trying to be consistent,” said Acuna, who did not walk a batter and limited La Serna to two runs.
With one out, two runs in and one on in the top of the fifth inning, Arias relieved Acuna and promptly struck out both hitters he faced to get out of a jam and preserve La Habra’s 4-2 lead.
“My job is to attack hitters and be aggressive; I’m happy to be out there in situations like that,” Arias said.
The Highlanders (11-8) countered in the bottom of the fifth by sending nine batters to the plate and scoring three runs. Fernando Alatorre and Maddox Moreno produced RBI hits and Jonah Mayo added an RBI sacrifice fly to up La Habra’s lead to 7-2.
With one out in the top of the sixth inning, Arias gave up back-to-back hits to Dominic Segura and Luther Sullens. He was then replaced by Aguirre, who gave up an RBI single to Ryan Barraza, cutting the lead to 7-3. Aguirre then walked Mike Alvarez to load the bases but struck out Matt Hernandez and retired Max Rodriguez on a liner to third to foil the rally and end the inning.
“Over the past few games, we haven’t been getting that clutch hit when we need it,” said La Serna Coach Anthony Gonzales Jr.
Aguirre shut the Lancers (10-9) down in the seventh inning to preserve the win for La Habra.
“I wanted to show why I’m the guy,” said Aguirre. “This kind of a win gives us all more confidence going back into league play.”
La Habra Coach Jack Brooks complimented his pitchers and said the road ahead is tough.
“Acuna pitched well today; it was his third quality start in a row,” said Brooks. “Both Arias and Aguirre came out of the pen and got big strikeouts. We’re starting to play our brand of baseball, being more aggressive, stealing bases and applying pressure on our opponents. Our league is very tough and the next four and ½ weeks are going to be a dog fight. It’s probably going to come down to the final week of the season to see who wins the league title.”
The Highlanders took advantage of three walks, an error and scored three runs in the first inning. La Habra pushed across a solo run in the second inning to build its lead to 4-0.
Bobby Brooks and Alatorre had strong games for the Highlanders. Brooks, normally a middle infielder filled in at catcher for injured starting catcher Izaiah Posada, scored a run, and had a stolen base while playing admirably behind the plate.
“Each of our pitchers were hitting their zones today,” said Brooks, a junior, who reached base three times. “We try and attack each game and each at bat and as a team we try to put up a big number.”
“We need to come out focused against every opponent and never play down to them,” added Alatorre, who scored two runs, had two stolen bases and an RBI. “We’re having fun out here.”
NOTES:
—-La Serna used nine pitchers in the game.
—The Highlanders had 10 stolen bases Saturday.
—-Segura led La Serna with three hits and a run scored.
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