Millikan, Gahr win critical baseball league clashes

Millikan and Lakewood share a blueprint and a healthy distaste for each other, but they no longer share a spot atop the Moore League standings. In a Blair Field battle of the league’s last two unbeaten teams, the Rams got a great pitching performance from Michael Killeen in a 4-1 win over their rivals.

“It’s always good to beat Lakewood,” said Killeen with a smile. The senior has signed with Concordia University.

Killeen boosted the Rams into sole possession of first place by smothering the Lancers for five iings, going the distance and striking out 10 while yielding just five hits and one eaed run. Killeen was as efficient as he was excellent, needing just 38 pitches to get through the first four iings and just 97 pitches for the complete game. He also didn’t walk any batters, and struck out the final six Lancers he faced.

The defense behind him was stout too. Oregon signee Spencer Steer was a vacuum at shortstop, making five consecutive putouts at one point, including a few nifty highlights.

“Obviously our seniors led the way tonight,” said Millikan coach Ron Keester. “Mike was great and Spencer was getting one after another after another, each one more impressive than the last.”

The Rams did all their damage at the plate in the bottom of the second iing, when they put four runs on the board, two of which were eaed. Eddie Cervantes and Michael Hall brought home Griffin Keller and Adam Knight ‑ who reached on errors ‑ then a sacrifice fly from Diego Alarcon scored Cervantes. Logan Misajon scored the final rund of the iing to make it 4-0, a very comfortable lead for Killeen.

“We haven’t had a lot of run suppport so that was nice,” he said.

Lakewood didn’t answer until the top of the sixth, when Matt Fields scored on an RBI hit from David Rivera.

Lakewood starting pitcher Bryan Sandoval did well, but many fans were likely surprised to see Lancers ace Matt Fields not get the start in a championship-type showdown. However, Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil is known for sticking to his rotation, and Fields pitched six iings in a win over Poly on Friday.

Millikan (15-5, 6-0) will host Compton in a campus field game Friday at 3 p.m while Lakewood (16-6, 5-1) will face Gahr in the semifinals of the Redondo Touament on Saturday moing.

‑ Mike Guardabascio

GAHR 10, WARREN 0 >> The Gladiators (15-4, 3-0 San Gabriel Valley League) celebrated their new No. 1 ranking in the CIF Southe Section Division 2 poll by blanking the rival Bears (10-9, 1-2) at home.

Gahr junior Josh Haley pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout while striking out six and walking one. He befuddled hitters with his sharp sliders, and only allowed two ruers to reach second base.

“I was really confident today,” Haley said. “I was preparing all weekend and that helped me keep my poise.”

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Sophomore shortstop Michael Perez led the offensive attack with a double, a triple and a home run plus four RBIs and two runs. The Gladiators showed good balance while only needing 10 hits to score in double figures. Perez’s two-out, two-run homer in the third iing opened a 3-0 lead. Two sacrifice flies and a bunt single drove in four more runs in the fourth iing. Three stolen bases helped Gahr put up two runs in the sixth.

“We’re well-balanced because we’ve got a lot of senior experience on this team,” Perez said.

The same teams will play at Warren on Friday.

‑ JJ Fiddler

For video highlights of both games by JJ Fiddler, visit PressTelegram.com/sports