Lakewood holds off Poly in Moore League baseball showdown

LAKEWOOD >> The Lakewood Lancers used timely hitting and another shut-down performance from Matt Fields to defeat Poly on Friday and stay perfect in the Moore League. The Poly bats gave Lakewood a scare in the top of the seventh , but with a six-run cushion, junior reliever Bryan Sandoval shut the door for a 6-4 win.

The Lancers took care of business in classic Lancer style, with execution and timely hitting from the back end of the lineup making difference.

“The bottom of the order has been pretty successful for us,” said Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil. “Small ball is in right now, and one through nine, we’ve been playing really well.”

In the second iing, after a sacrifice bunt moved ruers over to second and third, senior Darren Contreras poked a single into center field to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. Later in the iing with two outs, No. 9 hitter Carter White singled up the middle to push the Lakewood lead to two runs. In the sixth iing, the Lancers tacked on four more runs in similar fashion to secure the victory.

The offense gave starting pitcher Fields more than enough to work with as he went six scoreless iings, allowing six hits and striking out five. He ran into some trouble in the middle iings, but was great when he needed to be.

“It looked like Matt’s breaking stuff wasn’t as sharp as it has been,” said O’Neil. “But he won it. He’s a gamer.”

Poly had the bases loaded with two outs in the third iing, but Fields used his defense to get out of the jam unharmed. Fields found himself in a tough spot again in the fifth, but his swing-and-miss stuff got him a much-needed strikeout to end the iing.

“I trust my guys on defense,” he said. “I can just play catch with my catcher because I know I have a great defense behind me.”

The Lancers moved to 4-0 in the Moore League to set up a battle with unbeaten Millikan for a spot atop the league standings. Lakewood takes on Millikan at Blair Field next Tuesday at 6:30 pm, while Poly will face Cabrillo at Blair Field in the early game.