Lakewood, Millikan pick up Moore League baseball wins in Blair Field doubleheader

LONG BEACH >> Rarely does a Blair Field battle between two of the Moore League’s best teams end in as lopsided a final score as Friday night’s tilt between Lakewood and Wilson. But the Lancers batted through the lineup in a five-run first iing and then went into cruise control behind a strong performance from pitcher Matt Fields, wiing 10-1.

“Yeah, that never happens,” said longtime Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil. “But that first iing was the whole thing, that was fun.”

It looked like one of O’Neil’s classic teams, with three of the first four Lakewood batters executing bunts that were difficult to field, and five runs coming across the plate thanks to two-run doubles from Mason Mota and Jacob Acosta. By the time Fields took the mound, his team had already given him a 5-0 cushion.

“That’s always nice,” he said. “This was just us putting it all together, we played good defense and we swung the bats.”

The Lancers added a run on a wild pitch in the second iing and got a pair of RBI hits from catcher Jason Hurst in the win. In all, Lakewood piled up 14 hits and also benefitted from a pair of Wilson errors.

Lakewood (11-5, 2-0) went on a Spring Break road trip to Santa Maria, and Fields said the time together helped the team tu the coer on the field, where it went 3-1 at the Santa Maria Touament.

“It just helps to pull all the components together,” he said.

O’Neil has built this team with chemistry in mind, cutting the roster down to just 15 players before the season started, making the Lancers’ squad about half as big as some other league playoff contenders.

“When you see a game like this, it’s because everyone is getting a lot of reps and a lot of work in practice,” said O’Neil.

MILLIKAN 2, POLY 0 >> Defense was the difference in the first game of the double header at Blair Field. The Rams (13-5, 4-0 Moore League) got a phenomenal performance from senior pitcher Spencer Steer while their defense tued two crucial double plays to maintain an early lead. Meanwhile, the Jackrabbits (9-8, 1-2) made three costly errors to help Millikan score the only runs of the game.

“Those plays killed their momentum,” Millikan coach Ron Keester said. “They hit the ball hard at people, and we found holes. That’s the Moore League.”

Both teams only had four hits, but Millikan took the lead in the second iing without a hit. Logan Misajon reached on an error to lead off the iing, and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch before Adam Knight plated him with a one-out ground ball to the right side.

The Rams doubled their lead in the fifth iing when leadoff hitter Aaron Greenfield drew a two-out walk. He took second on a balk and scored on an 0-2 single though the left side from Diego Alarcon.

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Poly wasted a leadoff singe in the fourth iing when Millikan shortstop Alarcon and second baseman Greenfield tued a tailor-made double play. They also stranded two ruers in the fifth thanks to another iing-ending double play. The Jackrabbits even got the tying run into scoring position in the seventh iing when Gaven Palagonia doubled down the line and Je’Von Ward drew a walk.

However, Millikan ace Mike Killeen came in from the bullpen to relieve Steer and got the final two outs of the game. Steer finished with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 iings. He threw a first-pitch strike to 10 of the first 11 batters he faced.

“My plan was to get ahead early and surprise them with the fastball since I was throwing three pitches for strikes,” Steer said. “As an infielder I know to pitch with a good tempo. That keeps the defense in rhythm. I have so much trust in our middle infield. We made those plays and (Poly) didn’t.”

Millikan will be at Jordan next Friday and Poly will host Compton on Wednesday.